Burren Starparty 2011 success.

Dave Lillis · Post by **Dave Lillis** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:53 am

Hi all,
Many thanks to those who came along to this years Burren Starparty, we were rained out on Friday night but Saturday was clear up until 1am or so.
The milkyway blazed across the sky, the cygnus rift was clearly visible as were some of the starfields towards saggitarius.
Many sights were observed including globular clusters, nebula, double stars, several meteors and Jupiter was also seen .
The highlights for the night included comet Garradd alongside the coathanger and the supernova 2011fe in M101 which was very easily seen as the brightest star in that galaxy.
(for supernova map see
www.stationmaine.org/vsn/pic/var/sn2011fe.jpg )

So again, many thanks to all who came along and we look forward to seeing you all under clear skies at BSP2012 .

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:08 pm

Great weekend!!
I'm wrecked today though.
Next year I'm staying down come hell or high water!

Fair play to everyone that did thier bit.
Just go's to prove we don't need that speaker nonsense.
And it also proves that well advertised people will show up.

The place looked excellent as you drove in.
The gazebo / banner / barriers / all the scopes etc all made it very pro looking.

Just a thought for next year,
we could have a club gazebo and under it a table with application forms,
sky charts etc..
Hang a red light inside and at 8PM kick off give a quick beginners guide to the sights for the night... and also tips on looking thru equipment
(eg; ...and folks when you go up to an eyepiece, resist the urge to grab it!' - LOL)

Oh and maybe we could buy a couple of club laser pointers?
They are essential for public outreach stuff.

We just gotta keep plugging it as an excellent observational starparty
in the true sense of the word and I'm confident it will only grow.

Now, it's clearing outside so I'm off out again...
I'll sleep when I'm dead,
which actually might come faster than I think if I keep this insomnia up!

Dave Lillis · Post by **Dave Lillis** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:38 pm

I second the gazebos and lasers, a small table in one of the gazebos with app forms is a good idea.
People will be far more inclined to setup if can offer cover in the event of 50-50 weather, if we have 3-4 of these gazebos to go around, then thats that problem solved.

It was a hassle free and enjoyable starparty, we actually had time to setup in twilight, no rush rush, no organising hotels, minders, lifts, I'll hapilly let that hassle for other events to deal with.
The observing site itself was far better organised and layed out then previous years, well done to all the site crew.!

I really think now that this is a sustainable formula.
You know, this is such a simple event to run, there is nothing stopping us running this twice a year, 6 months apart, or am I mad, hahaha

PS, Frank, you out again, if you'd called me I would have gone with if you wanted company.

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 11:57 pm

Feck Dave, I just thought you'd be banjaxed!
I'll just fire you a text so in future..
It's raining now here anyways. javascript:emoticon(':roll:')

Hmm.. 2 starpartys...

John O'Mahony · Post by **John O'Mahony** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 11:28 am

Well done everyone on another successful BSP.

Roy Stewart · Post by **Roy Stewart** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 12:54 pm

Hey Guys...

I'd like to thank every1 who
helped make my 1st(of many I hope)BSP a success,
although it rained cats and dog all day Friday
it wasn't all doom and gloom...
We used Friday as a good bonding experience,
and Saturday turned out to be a good observing night...

I'd also like to give out a special thank you to Jerry Garvey
for all his help in organising the car park... You done a great job
it looked really professionally done... So Thanks again Jerry....

Just goes to show that we don't need expensive speaker bills
to have a successful Star Party... Here's to many more...

I'd also like to thank the guy's from the North for braving
the horrible weather and the guy's from the Midlands Astronomy Club...
Hope to see ye all again soon...

Cheers Roy

Roy Stewart · Post by **Roy Stewart** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 12:57 pm

Ya Frank, same goes for me...
Just give me a buzz if you're heading out..
The more the merrier...

Cheers Roy

Roy Stewart · Post by **Roy Stewart** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:59 pm