A Member Society of
The Southwest Region of the Astronomical League
Bringing Amateur Astronomy
to the World
The Texas Star Party 2001
May 13 - May 20
Participants at 2001 Texas Star Party assemble on the lawn for the traditional group photo. Popular science writer and AAAA member Timothy Ferris was guest speaker at TSP 2001. McDonald Observatory’s Multiple-Mirror
Hobby-Eberly Telescope is a popular point of local interest for TSP attendees.
Texas Star Party 2001
The 23rd Annual Texas Star Party was again hosted on the magnificent Prude Ranch, a 3500 acre mile-high guest ranch located six miles northwest of Fort Davis, Texas, in the shadow of McDonald University. With 753 attendees from across the country and around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Europe, this was one of the biggest Texas Star Parties ever. TSP week this year was May 13-19, 2001.
The Fort Davis area of west Texas is noted for clear skies and dark nights. In spite of some badly needed rain in the early part of the week, TSP attendees this year were treated to good observing at least five nights out of seven. As a result, there was plenty of activity each night on the observing field. And in between telescopes and observing, attendees had ample opportunity to visit and catch up on each other’s activities since last year, as well as make many new friends.
TSP is noted for outstanding guest speakers, and this year was no exception. Well-known science writer Timothy Ferris made his presentation on Thursday evening. Dr. Ferris discussed his new book on Amateur Astronomy, entitled Seeing in the Dark , and read a portion from one of the chapters. His premise in this book is that the concept of Professional Astronomer is a modern one, and that important astronomical discoveries were made by people such as Galileo, Herschel, and Newton, who would be considered amateurs today.
Friday’s guest speaker was Sky Pub’s Steven J. O’Meara, who talked about his activities as a
Vulcanologist. Steven has come up with some interesting theories predicting the timing of volcanic eruptions based on the phases of the moon. Steve illustrated his talk with personal photos of
volcanoes in Hawaii, Italy, the Philippines, and South America.
Rick Feinberg, Senior Editor of Sky & Telescope Magazine was scheduled for Saturday evening, but was called away on family business, so Steven filled in again with a second talk about the Green Flash.
(AAAA has come to learn that Steven J. O’Meara is the “Billy Elliot” of Amateur Astronomy, since he pursued a career as a dancer in younger days.)
The Southwest Region of the Astronomical League holds its annual business meeting during TSP, and it is encouraging to hear that SWRAL will be increasing its interest in its member societies and their activities outside of TSP each year. To find out more about the Texas Star Party, visit their web page at
http://www.texasstarparty.org/
The Texas Star Party is the Annual Convention of the
Southwest Region of the Astronomical League,
sponsored by SWRAL and hosted by TSP, Inc.
Click HERE
to Read Our Report on TSP 2003
Click HERE
to Read Our Report on TSP 2002
Click HERE
to Read Our Report on TSP 2001
Click HERE
for TSP 2003 Observing Programs
Click HERE
for TSP 2001 Observing Programs
Click HERE
for TSP 2000 Observing Programs
Click HERE
for TSP 1999 Observing Programs
The Southwest Region of the Astronomical League
is
made up of 28 member societies of the Astronomical League in the
states of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.
Join the AAAA's
SWRAL Newsgroup
Hosted by Yahoo Groups and the American
Association of Amateur Astronomers
The purpose of the SWRAL Yahoo! Newsgroup, hosted by the American
Association of Amateur Astronomers, is to create a forum where
members of SWRAL clubs can share ideas and experiences, and just get
to know each other. If you belong to one of the member societies of the Southwest Region of the Astronomical League,
or just want to know more about what is going on in this part of the
Astronomical League, please
join us as we share ideas about our region and what we can do to
encourage more communication between clubs.
AAAA
A Member Society of The Southwest Region
of the
Astronomical League
Bringing Amateur Astronomy to the World
The American Association of Amateur Astronomers is a member
society of the Astronomical League. Based in Plano, TX, and with a worldwide membership, including
15% of its members in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, AAAA
is proud to be one of the ten largest clubs in the Astronomical League, and the
second largest club in the Southwest Region.
