Eldorado Star Party

By Tim Cowden

I arrived Wednesday afternoon in time to see Mark Spearman packing up and ready to leave. A cold front and heavy wind and rain were forecast for the next day. He decided to stay until morning and just do binoculars, as the twenty inch was already packed.

I set up my 16 inch and we had a good night till about midnight, when the seeing deteriorated. With Mark's OIII filter and my new low power wide field eyepiece, I could see the entire Veil Nebula as a large circle. Mark found the Skull Nebula and flipping the filter made the two stars that make up the eyes blink.

Clouds rolled in at 1 a.m., I'm told. Mark left the next morning after feeding me breakfast tacos, the last good breakfast for the week.

High cold winds from the north arrived as promised, without spotty rain. I slept a lot during the day. The wind and clouds continued for 24 hours. I slept all night.

Friday, there were two talks at the lodge to break the monotony. I went into Ozona to buy a fast food meal and see the town. There are interesting houses, a good hardware store and a great public library.

The winds abated that evening and it was good observing but very cold. It got down to 27 degrees and my water bottle froze. I slept and got up again at 4 a.m. and had a good viewing of the Orion nebula, probably the best I'd ever seen in an eyepiece.

Saturday evening, the wind shifted to the south and it was warmer. Observing was still good and the winds calm. I drove home on Sunday, stopping for lunch with my mom.

Highlights

Skull Nebula in time for Halloween
Veil Nebula with a borrowed OIII filter (Thanks, Mark)
Book sale at the Ozona public library

Lows

Porta potties for a week.
Very old instant oatmeal in my camping stores.

The entrance to X Bar Ranch leads to the star party grounds at the Hill Country retreat.

My telescopes are set up and I'm ready for a night of stargazing.

Fellow observers staked out their observing places in the field before darkness set in.

This is an interesting stone house in Ozona.