We held our first star party at Photon Ranch for 2011. The guests were from The Oaks Parent Child Workshop, a preschool located in Santa Barbara. For the past two years, LCOGT has donated a star party as a silent auction item to raise money for the school. Last year the star party was held at Sedgwick Reserve, this year we extended the group to include entire families. In total, we had about 18 guests as well as Wayne Rosing, Dorothy Largay, John Martinez, and Rachel Ross from LCOGT.
All of the guests were extremely enthusiastic, but unfortunately the weather wasn't fully cooperating. We were able to spot Saturn and the 4-day-old Moon just before sunset and just before the fog rolled in. While the group was talking, asking questions, and trying to come up with some ideas for the overcast sky, the fog cleared and we were able to observe again (for a little while anyway). During the brief break in the fog layer, we had a quick tour of the stars and constellations that were visible, observed Saturn again (we couldn't get enough of it!), M44, M51, and caught M13 as it was rising over the hill just before the fog covered the sky again. We had 2 telescopes set up, a 100 mm Orion refractor and a one-of-a-kind 8.1” Astro-Physics Maksutov.
We are so lucky to be able to use Photon Ranch, up in the Santa Barbara hills, as a star party location. The beautiful property will eventually have a permanent pier and telescope to set up for future star parties. Thank you Oaks families for a very fun-filled evening, and to Wayne and Dorothy for the use of Photon Ranch!
