Colorado Cruiser: Astronomy Camping

In August I went with the local astronomy club up in the the mountains for a night of stargazing. I own a little Meade ETX 300PE telescope that I like to look through. It's small, light and has great optics.

I left work just after 5:00 and arrived in the meadow where we were meeting by 6:30. There was another guy from work that also recently started amateur astronomy and met me there. He bought a nice big 12" dobsonian telescope. His gets more light (and thus sharper pictures) than mine, but mine is electronic and points itself.

Just as I arrived, a thunderstorm started down on us. We sat in cars a bit and sat under the awning of another guy's trailer for a bit. I grabbed one photo during a lull in the rain, then tried to take a nap.

The storm lasted about 90 minutes, then it cleared up. But even though the sky was clear, there was allot of humidity in the air and dew gathered on things very easily. It also makes the air a bit thicker and less stable (wavy images).

About 15 people showed up in all. As the rain cleared and the dark descended we frantically set up tents and telescopes. There was a group of ATV riders about 1/4 mile away from us so we set up our telescopes on the far side of the big trailer to block any campfires they might have started.

As it turned out, the ATVers were great neighbors. No massive bon fire, no loud drinking, screaming, and especially no gun fire. But another group of astronomers pulled up along side the road. They didn't stay the night but they did keep turning on lights and blinding everyone. As they left they even turned on full headlights and turned around pointing straight at us from about 50 yards away. HINT If you go to a star party, don't do things that ruin people's night vision light park your car close and turn on the headlights.

By the time we were setup it was dark enough that I didn't dare take any more pictures with my camera and strobe, so I can't show you some of the massive telescopes that were there. One guy (the one in the trailer) had a 20 inch computerized dobsonian. It was incredible to look through.

My co-worker and I took turns finding things. My little ETX has an automatic setting that shows you some of the nicest objects in the sky for the current night. So we would find something in my scope, he would make note of where it was, then point his scope to it for better views. That was fun and challenging and neat to see some of the things that have always been a bit blurry in my scope.

By about 10:30 we noticed our first meteorites. The Perseides meteor shower was at it's hieght (or near it) this night and we must have seen well over 60 through the night. You just had to stop and watch for 3 or 4 minutes to see one or more. We also saw allot of sattelite crossings and one Iridium flair. That's where a sattelite hits just the right position that it's solar panels reflect the suns light and makes a very very bright object. 2 or 3 times brighter than Jupiter and even brighter than the moon.

By 11:30 we were fighting Dew. Everything was getting wet. My scope finally got so wet I couldn't see through it, and the last thing you want to do to these highly polished lenses is wipe them off.

One guy with a 16" dobsonian let us come look through his. (Actually "let" is the wrong word. Astronomers LOVE it when people come and OOO and AAA through their scopes). we did a tour of the various nebulae and galaxies, then some of the stranger objects.

I spent a while looking through the big 20" scope. But by 1:30 I was starting to feel the need for sleep. I had gotten up early and planned to get a nap before the session, but the rain had prevented that. So I finally said my goodnights and went to sleep. About half had gone to bed before me, and most of the rest followed shortly after. The guy with the big scope went to bed as the sun rose.

The next morning I packed up, said my goodbyes (most were staying 2 more nights) and headed North. The quickest way home was South, but I wanted to see what the rest of the road was like and to try a different way home.

I drove up past Tarryall Reservoir and high Highway 285. That's a big highway feeding South West out of Denver. I was suprised how much traffic it had. It was almost bumper to bumper. I headed NW toward Denver, then turned South on Highway 126 towards Pine and Deckers. There were some beautiful canyons and cliffs to look off of. The road is a very steap descent all the way to Deckers and the heat started to pick up. By Deckers I had the windows rolled down and enjoying the fresh air.

I turned West at Deckers on Highway 97. It parallels the South Platte River and I saw allot of fishermen. That's something else I need to learn, but I think I've done enough for this year. I stopped and walked along the river for a while just enjoying the warmth and the smell and sounds of the river.

I continued up 97 to highway 40 and turned East toward Sprucewood. It's a gravel road with a few steep climbs. I've thought of driving this road on my motorcycle, but wanted to know what it was like before I tried it. It didn't look too bad, so next year I'll add that section to my list of nearby places to ride.

I stopped for a burger at the little restauraunt in Sprucewood. The parking lot was filled with ATVs, dirt bikes, those 4 wheel golf cart looking things, 4x4 trucks, jeeps, etc. It looks like this is a very popular place for off roading. There were even a lot of mountain bikes. The burger was OK.

I continued homeward after that. Highway 67 coming out of the mountains is very windey but beautiful and fun. I've ridden it several times on my motorcycle and love this stretch. I then continued South on 105 and I-25 on home.

Looking South during a gap in the rainstorm