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[Kalvis]

In case anyone has not yet heard, the Prairie Skies star party will be held in Bourbonnais, IL beginning Thursday, Sept 13 and running through Saturday night, Sept 15. More info available at the website: www.prairieskies.org

Personally this will be my third year. I have found it to be well organized and a very friendly event.

On site registration is available at these prices:
$50 one day
$75 two days
$90 all three days

There is a nice vendor area with a swap market. There are contests for imaging, telescope building and children's art. The door prizes on Saturday evening are pretty impressive and the scheduled talks are interesting:

Saturday 10:00 a.m. - The Fermi Paradox Is Not An Answer; It Is A Question. "Given that the universe is full of other planets with intelligent life, some millions of years more advanced than ours, how come they’re not here?" This question was first asked at a lunch table discussion 50 years ago by Enrico Fermi. Join Art Maurer (from the Trackman Planetarium at Joliet Junior College) and Will Miner (retired Chair of JJC's Science Department and long time Physics and Mathematics Professor) as they present some answers from the experts and then open the floor to your own thoughts on why we haven’t been visited by guests from other solar systems

Saturday 2:00 p.m. - UFOs; Reality and Myths. Join Sam Maranto, Illinois State Director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), as he presents the realities and myths associated with UFO sightings. He is the lead investigator on both the 2004 Tinley Park, IL and November 2006 O'Hare Airport sightings. Sam has recently returned from Denver, CO, where he was one of the main speakers at the International UFO Symposium, held on August 10 -12, 2007.


I'm arriving Saturday morning and staying through Sunday morning. I will be volunteering at the registration tent from 2-4 pm on Saturday.

Come and join the fun!

Kalvis

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Kalvis,

See if you can take a few digital shots and show us your participation at the event.

Thanks for posting.

[Kalvis]

Well, I'm back from Prairie Skies. Since I forgot my camera there will be no pix to post. However, in past years other attendees have posted a large number of photos on the Prairie Skies website, so I encourage those of you interested to check them out in a week or two.

The turnout was great. I didn't hear an official count, but my guess was that attendance must have been close to 200.

My brief summary:
minuses:

• Only two small vendors: Sky Insight (featuring Chicago Astronomer Al Degutis) and Starlight Instruments.
  
• Many attendees (including myself) were displeased with this lack of larger scale vendors. They all seem to have snubbed this star party in favor of the concurrent one near Springfield, IL which is too bad.
  
• Skimpy freebies, i.e. only one magazine (Planetary Society)
  
• Saturday night's heavy dew around 10pm and full cloud cover by 11:30pm
  

pluses:

• a tremendous number and variety of scopes both bought and handmade
  
• very friendly people
  
• a great physical setting (4-H camp)
  
• nicely organized
  

I will likely go again next year.

FYI, I heard of another promising star party being hosted by the Bootleg Astronomers out of north central Illinois. It is being planned the June 6-8, 2008 at Green River near Dixon, IL. The site is supposed to be awesome, and it can't be more than 2 hours from Chicago. I'll try to find more info and post it here soon.

Kalvis

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Kalvis,

Thanks for the report.

Did you attend any of the lectures? What were your favorite scopes there? Draw us a picture for those of us who could not make it.

Great that you were able to attend.

[Kalvis]

Since I only arrived shortly before noon on Saturday I missed the morning lecture which should have been an interesting one. The afternoon lecture coincided with my volunteer duty at the registration tent, so I missed out on that one as well. Judging from the handout I saw afterwords some of the topics covered were about conspiracies and government cover ups which would not have kept my attention for very long.

There were two memorable scopes. One was an entirely handmade variation of a dobsonian. It had an 8" or 10" mirror and the most intriguing looking contraption of mirrors up by the secondary with the focuser coming out at a weird angle. Woodworking craftsmanship was impeccable. I believe it received an ATM (amateur telescope making) award. The second was an 18" Obsession that the owner had equipped with the Argo Cat digital setting circle set-up including go to computer and tracking motors. This was extremely impressive and fun to look through for about a half hour with expansive views of clusters and planetary nebulae.

I can't draw well enough to show you guys any of these things. Luckily the Prairie Skies website often has good pictures posted a few weeks after each year's event. Check them out.

Oh, another interesting thing I learned is about a new star party being hosted by the Bootleg Astronomers out of north central Illinois. June 6-8, 2008 they are planning a party at the Green River State Wildlife Area which is just south of Dixon. Kind of in the middle of the triangle formed by Interstates 39, 80 and 88. Can't be more than 2.5 hours drive from the Chicago area. The site is supposedly excellent and the organizers very friendly and enthusiastic.

Over and out,

Kalvis

[randalg]

I also attended PSSP. I have been going to the 4H club since 1995 for the other star party that used to be there. After the split I went to the new site for a few years but missed the rustic setting of Camp Shaw-Waw-Nas-See so I attended for the first time this year.Although not as big as it used to be (which in some ways is a good thing) it still was a great experience. I arrived Friday night and even though the weather was clear it was bitter cold which I wasn't quite prepared for so I ended up packing in early around midnight.
The following day I went and picked up my daughter as I only live a half hour a away so I can't comment on the talks.But we did manage to catch a few Rock Bass in Rock Creek that runs along the east side of the property. Saturday night started out ok but clouded over about 9:00 or 10:00 if I recall correctly.
The absence of vendors was kind of a bummer as I enjoy browsing the various booths during the day but hopefully the party will grow large enough to attract them back again in years to come.I will be going back next year as I did enjoy myself this time.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Randalg,

Thanks for your first post and sharing your experience at the PS event.

I have never been to it, but tell me what you observed and in what type of equipment you took a peek thru. Even tho it was cold, I'm sure the days were crisp and clear.