Stellafane 2021, continued:

Friday afternoon talks were next. Some were for beginners, others more advanced. After dinner were the Friday evening talks that anyone could sign up to talk about anything astronomical. Then it was another night of observing. A nice bright meteor streaked across the sky, and several faint ones during the course of the night. Once again I used my binoculars to scan the skies. Wide field views of the Sagittarius region and the Milky Way were quite enjoyable. There is so much to see in a pair of 10×50 binoculars. Clusters, globulars, clouds of stars, dark patches were some of the many objects observed. Once again called it a night at 1 a.m.

Now Saturday, awoke to the sound of rain on the tent. Luckily it was a light rain. Made my way down to swap tables. A lot of items to look at. I was not really out to buy anything, but sometimes you find that one special item. This time it was a book on astrometry. It was one of many the AAVSO were selling from their library. They are downsizing and moving to smaller quarters. After the swap tables, breakfast, and a cleanup, I started my journey to the hill to the pink clubhouse with a side trip to the food tent for coffee. Enroute I ran into Don Filer and Tony Melillo. Tony was leaving early after breakfast. I did get a picture of him waiting for his meal. On the hill there were quite a few telescopes. Folks had time to build them during the Covid lockdowns. Paul Schuler’s daughter, Stefania, had entered her Dobsonian for judging. It has always fascinated me with all the neat ideas individuals come up with on their telescope builds. After looking at all the instruments on the hill it was off to buy my raffle tickets and the afternoon talks. At the ticket booth I saw Kristen Larson (another former member) and after that ran into Al Washburn and his wife. Afternoon talks about Hubble (with handout pictures), photo multipliers (by Paul Schuler), light pollution, a 3d printed mount and a biographical history lesson on Sir William Herschel.

The usual kids raffle and then adult raffle were followed by the telescope awards. The shadowgram speaker was Kristine Larsen, an energetic talk on astronomy during Covid, which led to the evening keynote speaker, AAVSO director Stella Kafka. She spoke on the recent dimming of Betelgeuse, and all the data and theories on the cause. They are still studying the data and would like more. You can help with naked eye magnitude estimates, astrophoto magnitude estimates, or ccd photometry through the Cousins or Sloan filters. Clouds ruined the night for Saturday, so it was a early night for me, actually turned in by 11.

I enjoyed my time under the stars, looking at the telescopes, viewing the Sun in the spetrohelioscope, meeting old friends and new. Only downside was having to wear a mask while at the talks or if entering any of the buildings, which included the observatories on site. But to sit under the Milky Way and absorb its wonder makes it worth it.

Clear Skies!