Texas Star Party 2000
April 30, 2000 - May 6, 2000
The 2000 Texas Star Party in four five six seven words:
Hot, dry, dusty, cold, dark, windy, GREAT!
Like many previous years, the Texas Star Party was very dusty. However, in my opinion, some of the dust mitigation actions taken by the Ranch did help, to a degree. Gravel was overlaid on the roads, water was sprayed on the roads, as well as a special mix of water and some dust suppressant goop Sunday (or so I was told).

However, dust is simply a part of the TSP experience! In fact, it's just another way to "take some of the TSP home with you". In fact, just this weekend (5/13/00), I was still washing some of the TSP off my equipment. All in all, this was a very successful TSP, with all nights being clear at least some of the time. Sunday was clear, but more than a little windy! In fact, I tired of waiting for the wind to subside and decided there was little point in sand-blasting my equipment, so I packed it in about midnight Sunday.

Without testing my (increasingly error-prone) memory too much, I'll just say that the remaining nights ranged from totally clear to clearing-late. Saturday was the only evening I didn't observe after arriving the previous Sunday. With "miles to go before I sleep" on Sunday, the clouds before midnight were almost welcome, as they allowed me to begin packing with a clear conscience.
The Images
These are just a few photos I took on the Ranch and around the Ft. Davis area. I got them processed at a 1-hour photo place in Alpine. Unfortunately, most of the prints were excessively contrastive, often with the color saturation pushed to an unreal level. This is typical of most, if not all, 1-hour processing I've seen. I've tried to correct for it as much as I could, but I've neither the time nor inclination to spend hours and hours color-correcting these photos. You'll probably notice a few signs of extreme gamma adjustment and sharpening here and there, no doubt. On the panorama shots, they're definitely done low-budget. I've done very little to the images other than match them as closely as possible. I used no tripod, and my (cheap) zoom lens has built-in distortion near the edges.

In total, these images may take a little while to download, but I didn't want to reduce their size so far so to obscure the detail and clarity (ha!) of the images. After all the correction, sizing and sharpening, there's precious little clarity left!

All in all, this is a Q&D addition for those who weren't able to attend.
The dome of the Hobby-Ebberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory

In front, Walter Sarrat of the PAS (New Orleans) videotapes the scene.
The dome of the 82" Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory

No, this isn't the Leaning Dome of Pisa... I should have used a tripod when I shot this!
Named "I'm Batman", this scope is a showpiece of craftsmanship. Unfortunately, I didn't meet the builder, nor did I get a chance to look through it.
A scenic panorama from atop the Skyline drive in the Davis Mountains State Park, looking toward Ft. Davis, in the general direction of Alpine (I think!).
Dennis Webb's minimalist Dobsonian, in its current state of evolution.
A very compact Dobsonian, obviously a larger followup to the 10" "motorcyclable" Dob that's shown up at the last few TSPs.
A very interesting rock formation located on the Tx 166 "Scenic Loop" that runs through Jeff Davis county.
Kathey Nix (Memphis, TN) collimates her 14.5" Sky Designs Dobsonian prior to a long, dark TSP evening. Behind her is her 75mm (?) Unitron refractor.

This is one of the scopes that took a lickin' and kept on tickin' following a Prude Ranch dust devil. Once the focuser was properly reassembled and everything collimated, it worked fine, with no permament and / or un-repairable damage.
Another scenic panorama from atop the Skyline drive in the Davis Mountains State Park, this time looking more in the general direction of Marfa (once again, I think!).
A beautifully made equatorial mount by Gil Machin (Kansas City, MO).
The intersection of Tx 166 and 118, a few miles past the McDonald Observatory, on the Texas Scenic Loop.


Return to the main page