Logan Valley Star Party 2018 Summary

Weather:

• Monday, June 11, 2018: clear, perfect transparency
• Tuesday, June 12, 2018: clear, perfect transparency
• Wednesday, June 13, 2018: clear, perfect transparency
• Thursday, June 14, 2018: cloudy - clear after 1 AM, perfect transparency
• Friday, June 15, 2018: clear, perfect transparency
• Saturday, June 16, 2018: stormy, rain, hail - most packed up Saturday and left.

Viewing:

• No sky glow anywhere; could start serious viewing to the south and southeast around 9:30 PM; Polaris visible with finder scope around 8:30 PM for polar alignment.
• Magnitude 13 and 14 easily seen with my Meade 10" SCT; getting look-back times of 500 to 600 million light-years.
• Personal comments: "Logan Valley has the best night sky I have yet to experience." "The showstopper objects all have to be revisited now!" "The detail on the Swan Nebula was absolutely incredible!" "My main goal was to view all of the magnitude 14 or less galaxies in the Virgo Cluster which I did."
• The Astro Imagers thought it was the best sky they have experienced. Will post their images as soon as I receive them.

Thanks to Jeff & Linda Hoffmeister of the Olympic Astronomical Society for their promotion https://olympicastronomicalsociety.org/

Attendees:

Chuck, Astro Imager, Meade 8" SCT, from West Seattle, WA Steve, 8" Dobsonian, Port Angeles, WA

Kevin, 16.5" Dobsonian, Bellingham, WA Burton and Carol, Astro Imager, 4.5" APM in Tom Beck Tube, Emmett, ID

Rich, 17.5" Dobsonian, Maple Valley, WA Dan, Astro Imager,Celestron Edge 8", Olympia, WA Sean, Astro Imager, Celestron 9.25", Issaquah, WA

Logan Valley from Strawberry Mtns hike Strawberry Mountains Wilderness Area Telescope field at dusk

Unexpected camper neighbor: Rod - a "knapper". He kindly gave our group a demonstration. A raw piece of obsidian was turned into a usable survival utensil in about 30 minutes. Thanks Rod! He resides south of Portland, OR. (Telescope field in background of Big Creek campground)

And, of course, plenty of time for socializing and sharing meals.

Lagoon Nebula by astro-imager Burton Briggs taken Friday, June 15, 2018, Logan Valley Star Party.

An avid astronomer and bird photographer, Nancy Nelson, wanted to share a couple of her bird photos taken from the 2018 Logan Valley Star Party: Red-tailed Hawk and Mountain Bluebird. Thanks Nancy for sharing.