Ark-La-Tex Star Party

[Candy]

Ark-La-Tex Star Party

Red River Astronomy Club will host a five day Star Party beginning September 1st and concluding Labor Day, Sept. 5th., 2005 at our club property located 13 miles west of Nashville, Ark. The Star Party will have dark skies, plenty of camping space, vendors (Rex's Astro Stuff), PhD and amateur presentations, meals , T-shirts, swap meet, showers, electricity, door prizes, and if cloudy, movies on a 72 inch screen indoors. We are currently looking into making available limited Broadband Internet access to the viewing field via wireless connection(802.11b/g). Ethernet connections in main building. Even though we have probably the darkest skies in Arkansas our property is located on a county road and may see one or two cars a night but most of the time none. We are working on a detour with the local residents.

Scheduled Speakers:
Gary Hug, KS - (Comet Hug /Bell) F.A.S.T. Neo Program Click Here or Click Here
Tim Puckett, GA - Super Nova Program Click Here
Dr. Laura Whitlock, LA LSUS – History of Amateurs Click Here
Dr. Jeff Robertson, AR ATU - C.V.s Click Here
Dr. Scott Austin, AR UCA – Spectroscopy Click Here
Chris Lasley, AR – CCD imaging Click Here
John Reed, AR – Planetary Imaging Click Here
Roy Clingan, AR HEA

(subject to change, check web page for updates for updates)

Preregistration - Five day admission $35. $10 each additional family member. One day pass $20
Late Registration - $50 One day pass $30 Meals $7 each, Friday 2, Saturday 2. No meals offered if not registered.
T-shirts available at pre-registration only

Schedule (check back for updates, subject to change)

ArkLaTex Star Party schedule:

Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005

11:00am Gate opens
2:00pm - 4:00pm Movies Classroom
6:30pm Registration
7:00pm - 8:30pm NASA Movies
9:00pm Gate locks, light restriction enforce

Friday, Sept 2, 2005

11:00am Registration
12:00pm Lunch - Preregistration only
2:00pm John Reed
Classroom: Newt. Collimation Techniques
3:30pm Chris Lasley
Classroom: CCD Image processing
5:00pm Dinner - Preregistration only
7:00pm Tim Puckett GA
Classroom: Super Nova Searches
9:00pm Gate locks, light restriction enforced

Saturday, Sept 3, 2005

11:00am Registration
11:45pm Lunch - Preregistration only
1:00pm Dr. Scott Austin, UCA
Classroom: Spectroscopy with Small Telescopes
2:30pm Dr. Jeff Robertson, ATU
Classroom: Amateur Astronomers and Superhumping
Astrophysics: The Center for Backyard Astrophysics
(C.V.s)
4:00pm Swap meet
4:45pm Dinner - Preregistration only
6:00pm Dr. Laura Whitlock
Classroom: History of the contributions by
amateurs
7:30pm Gary Hug ( Comet Hug / Bell ) KS
Classroom: F.A.S.T. an Amateur Run NEO Follow-up
Program
8:30pm First ArkLaTex Give Away Drawing
9:15pm Lock Gate, light restrictions enforced

Sunday, Sept 4, 2005

2:00pm - 4:00pm Movies Classroom
6:30pm Roy Clingan
Classroom: High Energy Astrophysics (HEA)
7:15pm Movies Classroom
9:00pm Lock gate, light restriction enforced

Monday, Sept 5, 2005

2:00pm Checkout, lock gate

neocracker (aka tmosher) and I are planning on visiting Superluminal for the Star Party. If anyone else is interested in meeting, let us know. I’m kind of bumming, because we missed the registration date. Darn it! It still should be a hoot! Oh, yeah, my birthday is September 5th. I'll be Jack Benny's age. :wink:

[Candy]

Lance, this means you, too! Come fly with us. :D

tmosher is going to try to get to Chicago, otherwise, he will meet me in Arkansas. We are going to try and fly standby (perks of the airline), but it's a holiday, so I'm not real sure if this is safe. United only flies as far as Tennesee. It's driving from there. I'm not sure what the closest airport is - I'll check that out when I get back to work.

[neocracker]

Didn't miss the registration date, per se. Missed the early registration date. Instead of paying $35 for five days, you have to cough up $60 for five days or $20 per day.

Yes...I'm in the process of paying for you (you know who I mean).

[Candy]

Didn't miss the registration date, per se. Missed the early registration date. Instead of paying $35 for five days, you have to cough up $60 for five days or $20 per day.

Yes...I'm in the process of paying for you (you know who I mean).

I'll pay you what I owe you - I'm good for it. I'm glad you're making the plans, because I'm real bad at pre-planning.

What are the thoughts of renting a small plane? Is that expensive? Just wondering.

[neocracker]

Didn't miss the registration date, per se. Missed the early registration date. Instead of paying $35 for five days, you have to cough up $60 for five days or $20 per day.

Yes...I'm in the process of paying for you (you know who I mean).

I'll pay you what I owe you - I'm good for it. I'm glad you're making the plans, because I'm real bad at pre-planning.

What are the thoughts of renting a small plane? Is that expensive? Just wondering.

Cessna rentals are too pricey. You're looking at roughly $75 an hour for a 172 (that only holds four people and no luggage on a good day).

Easiest thing is a rental car out of DFW - mid-size car runs around $20 a day.

[Candy]

Easiest thing is a rental car out of DFW - mid-size car runs around $20 a day.

Ok, orgy it is (inside joke).

[Superluminal]

GREAT. GREAT. GREAT!!!!!!!! Nearest airport is in Texarkana AR. Not sure which airlines service it, but they fly little commuter puddle jumpers. There are 2 or 3 rental car places there. Some bad news: Tim Pucket, the supernova guy won't be there. Wonder if BA could make it? I'll PM him, can't hurt.

Keep me up to date on plans, looking forward to seeing you guys. :D

[Candy]

Superluminal, have you posted about the Star Party on the BABB? I'm sure there are folks interested in attending.

I tried to get to Charlie's, but I didn't have enough advanced time to schedule off of work. I really wanted to meet Charlie and Russ, too. :(

[Superluminal]

So as of now what is the head count from Illuminati?

[Candy]

Tom and I! :D

[Superluminal]

I PMed BA, no response yet. I put a post on the gen. astronomy thread, be interesting to see what kind of response we get.

[Candy]

I PMed BA, no response yet. I put a post on the gen. astronomy thread, be interesting to see what kind of response we get.

You'll get more reading it in the BABB area. :wink:

I PM'd the BA about the AstroFest awhile back, and he had plans elsewhere already. I can't remember the dates for the AstroFest now. I was only going to go if the BA went.

[Superluminal]

I told him you were coming. You think that was good or bad?

[Candy]

I told him you were coming. You think that was good or bad?

I don't think he hates me, so you're okay. I think the BA is more concerned about being part of the show for publicity reasons. If he doesn't make it this year, then ask your club to sponser him next year. He is very entertaining and had the audience in stitches. 8)

[Superluminal]

He PMed me back. Said he had too many commitments, but keep him in mind for next year. Didn't say anything about you.

[A-hole]

How to make extra bucks.....
Rent an "unlimited" mileage car then charge car loads of peeps to take them to town.

[Candy]

Here's the plan, thus far, we both have September 2-5 off. My schedule has me off at 6am on Friday (2nd), so I'm hoping to fly to Dallas in the morning. I will be getting absolutely no sleep, which seems to be the theme for me lately. Neocracker has the same days off. Planning is slow, since my schedule is ever changing.

[neocracker]

I'm still there as long as the loads on the SAV-DFW-SAV flights remain the way they are - flying non-rev can be a pain in the butt.

AA has three flights to DFW from SAV and three flights back.

[Candy]

I haven't flown since January 2002. Security was tight then. I can only imagine how it is today.

[neocracker]

I haven't flown since January 2002. Security was tight then. I can only imagine how it is today.

Be prepared to empty your pockets, take off your shoes and bend over.

Just kidding on the bending over part (unless they pick you for the very special treatment).

Last security run I did was in May 2005 - DFW, SJU, STX, MSY - piece of cake.

[Мастер]

Last security run I did was in May 2005 - DFW, SJU, STX, MSY - piece of cake.

Last time I went through security was Sunday, and all I can say is, the experience is enormously different in different airports across the US. Some of them are almost not horrible...

Thanks for the new title, Lance...

[Candy]

Labor Day is just around the corner! \:D/

I'm going to ask the couple across the hall to feed Fifi while I'm gone. I get everyone's newspapers in the mornings, so I'm sure they will be happy to do this small favor for me. I've finally got all the neighbors trained to retrieve the trash receptacles after trash day. I rarely see these neighbors, but kindness goes along way sometimes. :D

[neocracker]

Labor Day is just around the corner! \:D/

I'm going to ask the couple across the hall to feed Fifi while I'm gone. I get everyone's newspapers in the mornings, so I'm sure they will be happy to do this small favor for me. I've finally got all the neighbors trained to retrieve the trash receptacles after trash day. I rarely see these neighbors, but kindness goes along way sometimes. :D

So far...my non-revs are holding ... let's see what happens in a week.

[Candy]

Labor Day is just around the corner! \:D/

I'm going to ask the couple across the hall to feed Fifi while I'm gone. I get everyone's newspapers in the mornings, so I'm sure they will be happy to do this small favor for me. I've finally got all the neighbors trained to retrieve the trash receptacles after trash day. I rarely see these neighbors, but kindness goes along way sometimes. :D

So far...my non-revs are holding ... let's see what happens in a week.

I haven't even checked the loads. I'll do it tomorrow at work.

[edit - I looked at our Intranet]

[Candy]

The flights look wide open. What is the best days and times for you, neocracker?