Summary of the 6th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY
August 7-14, 1999

This year's Nebraska Star Party was a wonderful combination of daytime family fun and nighttime observing under the pristine skies of the Nebraska Sandhills near Merritt Reservoir. NSP-6 provided over 300 people from as far away as Puerto Rico, Bejing, China and the United Arab Emirates with dark sky conditions and pleasent summer weather during most of the week.

Merritt Reservoir is an 11-mile long lake with miles of white sand beaches about 26 miles southwest of Valentine, Nebr. (Pop. 2890). Other than Valentine, there are no towns or cities of significant size within 75 miles of the observing site. That, coupled with the high rolling terrain (altitude 3100 ft.), make for skies which are very dark and ideal for Deep-Sky viewing. A number of observers at NSP have seen stars as faint as magnitude 7.5 to 8.0 with the unaided eye. The NSP observing fields are just south of the Snake Campground about 7.5 road miles from Merritt Resort near the south side of the lake, and cover an area of nearly 19 acres. Merritt Resort, located near the dam on the lake's northeast end, now boasts of a brand new restaurant known as "the Water's Edge", which gives customers a fine view of the wide white-sand beaches and the lake. NSP Registration was held downstairs in the new lounge/bar, where people could sip some liquid refreshment, play some pool, or watch the Weather Channel on the big screen TV while waiting to register. Many attendees camped at either the Snake Campground or Cedar Bay, while others stayed in the cabins at Merritt Resort or in motels in Valentine.

A few early birds arrived on Friday August 6th, and got in some observing before a few storms blew in. Saturday the 7th marked the official start of the star party, and was beautifully clear with pleasant temperatures in the mid 80's and low humidity. That evening brought out about 20 telescopes, including two 30 inch Obsessions and a number of other large Dobsonians. Most people started with the big "showpieces", and then switched to more difficult and distant targets. Two new additions to the NSP "repertoire" were a Televue Binoviewer on Tom Miller's 30 inch Obsession, and the new Type 4 Naglers. The binoviewer was the big hit, with M27 showing an almost three- dimensional effect. Indeed, the Dumbell showed virtually every detail shown in most photographs. The "Cat's Eye" nebula, NGC 6543 in Draco, gained considerably from the use of the binoviewer, with delicate arc-like detail spiraling into the middle of the brilliant greenish oval. Even the faint patchy outer shell was not terribly difficult to see. Globulars were astounding with the binoviewer, and the view of M11 seemed to give the observer a position sitting just beyond the outside edge of the cluster. The Type 4 Naglers also pleased the attendees, showing almost no astigmatism, field curvature, or distortion even when used at relatively short f/ratios.

Sunday was mostly devoted to registration and some water fun, as some braver souls went out on the lake to try their hand at wake-boarding behind Tom Miller's boat. Sunday evening brought the NSP public star party held north of the resort, where local residents could view some of the brighter celestial wonders through four and six inch refractors, a 10 inch home-brew Newtonian, a Portaball 12.5 inch Newtonian, a 15 inch Obsession, and an LX-200 SCT. NSP-regular Lorri May of South Dakota did her visual star talk, pointing out the constellations and singing, "I'm a Little Teapot", as she explained the form of Sagittarius to the local residents. As the public event was winding down, a short auroral display began on the northern horizon, with a low greenish band and a number of vertical rays. Back on the main observing fields, some observers were busy going after distant objects, but others were playing with binoculars after the wind began to kick up a bit. A huge pair of 20x125 binoculars gave glorious views of the Milky Way, and easily revealed the diffuse fuzzy bar of Barnard's Galaxy. M31 easily showed both of its spiral arms in the big binoculars, and the Double Cluster was spectacular in its rich Milky-Way field. Around 4 a.m., the Aurora started up again, this time with more ghostly spires and curtains which lasted into twilight.

Monday was again clear and sunny, with the start of the NSP Beginner's Field School, taught by NSP veteran Dave Hamilton of Lincoln, Nebr. with a little assistance from myself. The first session gave over 30 people on the observing fields an introduction into the basics of observing and amateur astronomy. Lorri May laid out the "Thousand Yard Solar System" along the twists and turns of the main road through the observing fields to give those present a taste of just how big the solar system really is. At around 7 p.m., attendees gathered on the observing field for the NSP Ice Cream social, where people struck up new friendships or renewed old ones. The first of the many door prizes were also given out. As darkness fell, the giants of Dob Row again went into action, swinging from object to object as if there weren't enough hours of darkness to use. A 24 inch and two 30 inch Obsessions, a couple of 20 inch scopes, several 18 and 16 inch Dobsonians, a pair of C14's, and a host of other smaller scopes from refractors to SCT's to home-brew Newtonians dotted the observing fields. A 22mm Type-4 Nagler and an OIII filter proved to be a killing combination when used on one of the 30 inch Obsessions. The Veil Nebula showed clear signs of faint orangish and bluish colors, with incredible structure which is only hinted at in photographs. Other people worked up and down the Milky Way, hunting some of the smaller planetary nebulae that hide among the stars. Seeing was also excellent, with eight and ten inch apertures easily showing the bluish companion of Antares during twilight. Once Jupiter and Saturn rose high above the eastern horizon well after midnight, the binoviewer once again went to work, rewarding those who stayed up late with nearly 3-D razor-sharp images of both planets. The Perseid meteor shower surprisingly put on a display of 15 to 30 per hour after midnight, with some being quite bright.

Tuesday afternoon began Day-2 of the Beginner's Field School, covering telescopes and accessories for the novice. The vendors began to set up at Merritt Resort, with a lot of people looking on. The new Celestron NexStar 5 inch computer-slewed SCT was put through its paces by those who stopped by. Tuesday evening, a catered hamburger barbecue was held on the observing fields, although some clouds and winds from nearby thunderstorms prevented much viewing until the pre-dawn hours.

Wednesday dawned bright and clear again, with Day-3 of the Field School. In the afternoon, the emphasis turned to family fun, with the Great NSP Beach Party, held on the shores of the lake below Merritt Resort. Lots of people entered the water for swimming or water battles with huge squirt guns, while others sunned themselves on the beach or played sand vollyeball. The NSP Sand Wedge contest brought out a number of would-be golfers to try their luck at hitting the flag. The two-legged races were fun to watch, as a few rather unequal combinations turned out to be the real winners! As for losers, NSP "Clear Skies Coordinator", Doug Bell became the "sitting duck" for a large sling-shot and a bunch of kids with water balloons. When no one could seem to come very close to hitting him, the kids grabbed the remaining balloons and charged Doug, thoroughly drenching him! After some of the fun died down, the big gas grille was fired up for the family barbecue. During the beach party, a mysterious stranger arrived who looked a bit like a "Thinner" version of Steven King! Some time later he reappeared on the observing fields and was quickly identified as none other than the NSP Keynote speaker Brian Skiff of Lowell Observatory. Brian moved among the groups of observers, although I had the treat of having him in my little group of observers for nearly two hours where we almost talked the night away. The skies were fairly good, with the Perseid meteor shower rate now past 40 per hour. More deep-sky observing through at least 35 telescopes went on until the wee hours of the morning, when some people cut things short to get a little sleep prior to the canoe/tubing trip.

Thursday morning was bright and sunny, setting the stage for the Great NSP Canoe/tubing trip down the Niobrara Canyon. About 130 attendees either canoed a gentle 15 miles of this scenic river, or floated down on large inner tubes for about 8 miles. Those who went tubing often saw or got involved with some vicious water gun battles between rival groups of tubers. Both groups paused at Smith Falls State Park for lunch before continuing down the river, and some even stood beneath the icy waters which roared down the falls into the the Niobrara Canyon. All who took the trip had a great deal of fun. However, after the tubing trip, the skies clouded over and a cold wind blew fiercely, forcing an end to any thoughts of observing much that night.

Friday saw a shift in activities to the main auditorium and lobby of the Valentine High School for the formal presentations. The Telescope Making contest was moved to the school due to the previous day's bad weather. In the Craftsmanship division, Robert Custer won for his home-brew wedge for his Meade ETX. The Technical Innovation award went to James Holloway for his Image Intensifier on a Celestron Comet Catcher, while the Useful Accessory award went to Ron Martin for his unique counterweight balancing system for his Dobsonian. The vendors were out in force in the lobby, doing a brisk business, while other attendees got involved in judging the displayed entries for the Astrophotography Contest. Pizza Hut provided attendees with the chance to buy lunch at the school without having to leave the lobby. In the Astrophotography Contest, the two pictures which got the greatest interest were the winners of the Wide Field category (Bill Bond of Omaha with a shot of the Sagittarius Milky Way), and the NSP category (a picture taken at sunset of the observing fields with telescopes on the hills by Leon Lewis of Sioux Falls South Dakota).

The formal presentations included Kathy Machin, the Astronomical League Award coodinator on "Your First Year As an Amateur Astronomer, Richard Wild on Observing the Moon, and Bill O'Donnel of the Omaha Astronomical Society on "Getting the Most from Your Astronomy Club". Bill's talk provided the basis for a brief forum on solutions to the problems associated with forming a club and keeping it active. The keynote address was by Brian Skiff of Lowell Observatory, entitled, "Where is the 'Edge' in Deep-Sky Observing Now?". Brian showed us what is possible with observing, and posed a number of challenging areas for amateurs to delve into.

Friday evening proved to be another good NSP night, with mostly clear skies and cool temperatures which virtually extinguished the few mosquitoes that had been present during the week. Brian Skiff again made the rounds of the observing fields, and helped a number of observers find two adjacent planetary nebulae he had talked about in his presentation: IC 1295 in Scutum, and its tiny nearly stellar neighbor PK 25-4.1, only 5.7 arc minutes to its southwest. The Perseids really put on a fine display, with a number of bright meteors leaving short trails, and rates which hit 60 per hour.

Saturday was partly cloudy, and found most attendees packing up for the long trip home. Many people commented that this year's Nebraska Star Party was the best of the six NSP's which have so far been put on, and most are looking forward to next year's event.

David Knisely