The Nebraska Star Party of 2001 again offered its somewhat unique and highly-successful formula of of dark sky observing and entertaining family- style activities to its over 320 attendees and guests. Located high in the picturesque Nebraska Sandhills (3,000 ft. elevation) just above the south shore of 11-mile long Merritt Reservoir, the site is one of the best dark-sky viewing locations in North America. Sponsored jointly by the Prairie Astronomy Club of Lincoln and the Omaha Astronomical Society, NSP-8 brought people from places as far away as the Phillipines together for a week of fun, fellowship, and deep-sky observing.

Some "early-bird" observers arrived on Saturday July 14th, and were greeted by very pleasant temperatures in the low 80's coupled with low humidity. This promoted a lot of recreational activities on and around the lake, taking full advantage of the warm water and 41 miles of white sand beaches the reservoir provided. Many attendees camped at the Snake Campground immediately north of the large observing fields which had been prepared by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Others stayed in nearby campgrounds or in motels in Valentine, while a number took advantage of the cozy cabins at Merritt Resort near the dam. Indeed, the "Water's Edge" Restaurant at the resort was often the gathering place of many NSP regulars, as well as providing a shady location for the equipment vendors. Sunday brought the start of NSP registration, held downstairs from the restaurant in the Dillon's lounge. Despite the pleasant daytime conditions, both Saturday and Sunday evenings became mostly cloudy, although the clouds didn't prevent a lot of pleasant socialization and the renewal of a lot of old friendships from previous star parties. Groups gathered and talked well into the darkness on the observing fields, resting up from their long journeys.

Monday dawned bright and clear, with NSP activities in full-swing. The first session of the 3-day NSP Beginner's Field School was held at the small picnic just above the Snake Campground, with NSP-regular Dave Knisely giving over 40 newcomers to the hobby an introduction to the wonderful world of Amateur Astronomy. The NSP Ice Cream Social got up and running in the early evening, with over 150 attendees being served free ice cream and pop courtesy of NSP. This was accompanied by the the first of the many NSP door prizes which were awarded to both the adults and their children all week long. Immediately following the Ice Cream Social was an interesting talk given by Air Force Lt. Colonel Doug Good on Military Celestial Navigation. Members of the news media also were making their rounds, interviewing some of those who had recently arrived at the star party. As darkness fell, about 100 telescopes began to swing skyward to begin their week of scanning the deep sky. Instruments from binoculars to computerized SCT's to the giant Dobsonians of Dob row were present, including a 30 inch Obsession. Mars appeared during early twilight, and despite the on-going dust storm, showed a few vague dusky shadings as well as its slightly gibbous phase. Viewing conditions were very good, with a zenith limiting magnitude of around 7.5. Refractors seemed to be regaining some of their popularity, especially those of the small "spotting scope" variety. The wonderfully-brilliant Summer Milky Way visible from NSP provided a lot of joy for users of these little scopes. The large bulge of the galaxy was visible to the unaided eye out beyond the pincers of Scorpius and into Ophiuchus, while the huge dark mass of the "Pipe" nebula in Sagittarius was also plainly visible. The Zodiacal light could be glimsed above the southwestern horizon from Leo nearly all the way to Scorpius. Even the giant Dobs were often seen crusing up and down the many star clouds and dark lanes. The usual "showpiece" objects like the Lagoon, the Trifid, M17, the Veil, M13, and the North America Nebula were all seen in spectacular style. In addition to just sight-seeing, many attendees were taking advantage of the fine viewing conditions to compare various instruments, eyepieces, and filters. The 31mm Nagler and the 5-8mm Speers- Waler were getting a lot of attention from attendees. Many people made this first good night an "all-nighter", with morning twilight coming all too soon.

Tuesday was hot and partly cloudy. Day-2 of the Beginner's Field School was held, covering telescopes, eyepieces, and filters. A lot more families took advantage of the cool waters of the lake to do some swimming, fishing, and water skiing. In the early evening, a catered "all-you-can-eat" Hamburger Barbecue was held at Merritt Resort for NSP attendees. The skies started out as rather hazy and partly cloudy, but those who gave up early missed out on a spectacular sky which cleared beautifully less than an hour after Astronomical Twilight ended. Those who stayed got a great view of Comet Linear C/2001 A2, which was visible as a small hazy spot to the unaided eye and which showed nearly 1.5 degrees of tail in binoculars and rich-field telescopes. More observers got "down to business" with their observing work on more distant and difficult targets or observing programs which were made easier by the dark clear sky. Around 3:30 a.m. a magnitude -7 Iridium flare lit up the eastern sky, followed about 5 minutes later by a pass of the International Space Station with the Space Shuttle docked to it. Even at only 59x, some shape to the station complex could be seen. The pre-dawn dark was also highlighted by the appearance of Venus, Saturn, Aldebaran, and the narrow crescent moon rising in the east.

Wednesday, the 3rd day of the Beginner's Field School was held at the Water's Edge restaurant, with NSP regular Gary Fugman doing a fine presentation on observing projects and techniques to about 47 people. A swap meet was also held downstairs in Dillon's lounge. The warm afternoon was also time for the Great NSP Beach Party at the beach below Merritt Resort, with about 200 people in attendance. In addition to swimming, many 1 and 2 person kyaks were provided free to NSP attendees by Valentine Nebraska outfitter Yucca Dunes, allowing a lot of people a chance to get out on the water. Sand Volleyball, 3-legged races, the sand wedge pitching contest, and more doorprizes all provided a lot of fun for the families in attendance. A free Hot-dog/brats cookout was also provided, with the giant "Wimmer-Weener" man making his appearance on the sand, much to the delight of some of some of the kids who enjoyed giving his huge inflated costume an occasional tweak on its backside! With some of the attendees remembering the cloudy skies of Saturday and Sunday nights, "Clear Skies Coordinator" Alan Scruggs of Texas, was "punished" for his minor failure by being repeatedly pummeled with water balloons fired by kids using a large sling shot. As a result, Wednesday night was again nice and clear with more people doing an "all-nighter" on the observing fields. More obscure targets were the subject of most observers, as seeing was fairly good. Even the "Cat's Eye" Nebula (NGC 6543) revealed detail in a ten inch Newtonian at 705x. The central star in the Ring Nebula (M57) also occasionally popped into view. A few people were also doing some photography, both with film and CCDs. NSP webmaster Mark Dahmke was using his LX-200 to identify and track satellites. He even managed to briefly track the Hubble Space Telescope before it quickly entered the Earth's shadow.

Thursday morning was the time for the famous river Canoe/Tubing trip in the scenic Niobrara Canyon. This event is a favorite for most NSP regulars, as nearly 200 people went down the river in the canoes and giant innertubes provided by Brewers of Valentine, Nebraska. The floating tubes also were the scene of some hilarious good-natured "water-cannon" battles between rival groups. Afterwards, a catered chicken dinner was held back at Merritt Resort in the Water's Edge restaurant, but again, the skies looked iffy, with some nearby thunderstorm activity. However, as in previous nights, shortly after astronomical twilight ended, the sky quickly cleared again, allowing another all-night observing session. Some people were now going after things like small planetary nebulae or clusters of galaxies. Stephan's Quintet was prominently visible in scopes as small as 8 inches, while the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) was easy in binoculars. The Double Cluster showed its faint outer halo of dim outer stars in rich field scopes, which made both groups appear to be nearly touching.

Friday's events mainly took place at the Valentine High School, with activities for both adults and kids. The kids activities included several sessions with the Starlab inflatable planetarium, along with kite and even model rocket construction and flying. The adults were treated to a number of guest speakers as well as the vendor displays and swap meet in the lobby. John Johnson of the Omaha Astronomical Society gave a talk on "A Brief History of Calendars and Time", followed by an unusual presentation from the International Dark-sky Association. A Pizza lunch was served at the school, followed by the afternoon presentations. Wayne and Carole Lainof gave a talk on the total solar eclipse in Zimbabwe, which was followed by Brenda Culbertson's presentation on methods of observing through the ages. The NSP Astrophotography and Observing awards were then presented. In the Deep-Sky category, Harlan Seyfer won with his color image of the Horsehead. Jim Rutenbeck won the Solar System class with his image of the moon, Saturn, Venus, and the Pleiades. In the Wide-field class, Randall Wehler won with his fine shot of "Lyra's Ascension", and also won the NSP class with his fine shot of Mars and the Sagittarius-Scorpius area of the Milky Way as taken from the Boardman Creek campground at Merritt Reservoir. A large number of kid and adult door prizes were also awarded, including several 6 inch Meade Dobsonians, a 70mm refractor, two 102mm f/5 Celestron refractors, several pairs of 10x50 binoculars, 7mm and 9mm Naglers, and the grand prize of a Meade ETX-125 Maksutov with Autostar. At the conclusion of the program, those who wanted just one more night of observing went back out to Merritt Reservoir, and were again treated to a partly-cloudy to clear night to end this year's edition of the Nebraska Star Party.

The 9th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY will be held August 4-9, 2002 at Merritt Reservoir. For more information, see our website at: http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org