A Review of the 2011 Peak Star Party by WAOG member Richard Knisely-Marpole

It was James Pels who kicked the whole thing off. He posted on SGL that as there hadn’t been a star party in the Peak District for a number of years, he wold like to organise one.

A number of people stepped forward to offer assistance, including John Tanner from the Peak District National Park, Paul Collins from Chesterfield AS and Paul Brierley from Macc Astro. As Angela and I lived within a couple of miles of the suggested site, we decided that it would be churlish not to lend a hand and of course to represent WPAOG.

John Tanner and Paul Collins are both members of Peak District Dark Skies Group and it was felt that the event would be an excellent opportunity to promote the group’s aims.

The chosen venue was to be Shallow Grange, a farm just outside Buxton, with a good-sized campsite. When approached, the owners turned out to be really excited by the prospect and offered us dedicated use of the site if we could get 40 definite bookings by the end of May. The star party was to go from Friday to Monday, with the opportunity for anyone to stay longer should they wish, at extra cost, because the week following was half term.

Announcements were made on all the forums, but bookings were slow and as May came round, it looked as if we wouldn’t make the 40. This would have been a blow, since having the campsite to ourselves meant we could control the amount of stray light on the site and keep a good eye on security - essential with all the expensive gear that would be there.

The delight was that by the end of May, we had achieved our target and as time rolled on, so the bookings kept coming in. Not only would we be able to fill the touring and camping fields, but the overflow field would be busy as well! In all, we had more than 80 units booked in, with in excess of 150 individuals.

I’ll not go into all the meetings, emails and messages that went on from inception to actuality, but needless to say, it was a hectic time, with the planning of signs, banners, stickers, badges, information packs, lecturers, tents for displays and trade stands, traders and a dozen other things.

Traders were approached and some agreed to come along with their wares. A local mobile burger bar was booked for the Saturday evening, lecturers were arranged for the daytime and although we tried, we found it impossible to book the weather. It was decided that to provide light relief and to present a challenge, we would hold a bottle-rocket competition.

The weekend approached, together with some dreadful weather - was SPS 2011 going to be a washout?

Angela and I arrived at the site on Wednesday evening after work, joining the other organisers, ready to begin the setting-up process. Large tents had kindly been loaned by the 3rd Buxton (Harpur Hill) Scouts and the Peak Park and Thursday morning was spent erecting these.

Shallow Grange campsite has a barrier across the entrance and we decided this was the best place to set up reception as we could easily control traffic in and out.

Friday arrived and the weather, which had improved as the week went on, looked fine and settled, although with quite a bit of cloud.

Arrivals were booked in, allocated pitches and made welcome - there were caravans, motorhomes tents of all sizes and astronomers everywhere - a far cry from the twenty or so participants that James had anticipated when he originally considered the idea! When you add to this the number of day visitors that also attended, then I think this event can be called a resounding success.

Friday night, the cloud, which had been thickening all day and looked like rain, totally covered the sky, so it was down to socialising for some and an early night for others. At around 1.30 am, the cry went out “the sky is clear, get up everyone!”. Telescopes were uncovered and put to use and much imaging done. The clear spell lasted until around 4 am. Angela and I - being down at the barrier in our motorhome - slept on.

Saturday was a lovely day, with warm sunshine. Just after lunch it was time to launch - the bottle rockets that is. Some people had the knack. others didn’t. It seemed that the more sophisticated the rocket and launch system, the less the rocket flew, but there was amusement aplenty for the onlookers.

The lectures were well attended and well received, despite having to be held in the barn with only hay bales for seats. Even the 3 or 4 ewes which were using the barn as a lambing shed seemed to be fascinated.

Saturday night started off relatively clear, but cloud moved in, although the sky directly above remained open. This is where the problems in parts of the Peak District manifested themselves. Dotted around Buxton are numerous large limestone quarries, with a huge amount of lighting - shining not only on the workplace but into the sky as well (how much money must they waste) - causing a lot of light pollution when the sky is cloudy or there is a lot of moisture in the air. There are two quarries close to Shallow Grange and as the cloud rolled in, so did the light pollution. It is this problem that the PDDS group is trying to rectify not only to the benefit of astronomers but also for the local community, who have to suffer these lights continually.

The sky remained open until about 11ish and there was plenty of observing and imaging done. Angela and I used our new scope for the first time and had good views of M31 the Andromeda Galaxy, Pleiades, the Double Cluster (NGC 884 & 869), M15 (a globular cluster), the asterisms Kemble’s Cascade and the Coathanger as well as Jupiter and its moons.

On Sunday there were more lectures, but the weather was turning, with the wind increasing, so it was decided to take the tents down while they were still dry and a general air of packing up covered the site, with some people having to leave to get back for work on Monday.

Monday saw us clearing the site and going home - exhausted but delighted with the way the event went.

Will the event be held again? Yes I certainly hope so, given how popular this one was. Did we get everything right? Not everything. This was a first for most of us and there are a number of things that could be done better next time, but hey, it’s a learning curve and lots of lessons have been learned from this all-new Peak Star Party.

Lectures:

John Tanner: “Peak District Dark Skies and Light Pollution in the Peak District” 
Dr Dan Brown: “Nocturnal Landscapes and Skyscapes”
Professor Ian Morrison BA, MSc, PhD, FRAS . Emeritus Professor of Astronomy and Fellow of Gresham College: “Earth Impactors, Comets and Meteorites”
Kevin Kilburn: “Afocal Imaging”
Nigel Bradbury: “Viewing the Aurora”
Professor Andrew Lyne FRS: “Quasars and Cosmic Time”

Images from the PSP 2011 can be seen here:

http://www.rakm.co.uk/Peak_Star_Party/peak_star_party_2011/index.html

http://www.swashastro.co.uk/messier31.html

http://ukastroimaging.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=53849.0

https://picasaweb.google.com/106309737639229469611/ImagesFromPSP2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink