I’m tired of all this cold weather. So, here’s a travel piece not so much about the place but what was above it…on a nice summer night!

                                                Waupaca Star Party

            I stared wide-eyed at what was all around us. “Ruthie, look at all these telescopes!”

            It was an open field at Waupaca’s Hartman Creek campgrounds where the Northern Cross Science Foundation (NCSF) was holding a weekend star gazing event. Until now we-two star gazers had scanned the night sky with only the binoculars and our dilapidated little two-inch telescope on its wobbly tripod. NCSF encouraged the public to join in with them here, so we’d jumped at the chance. Tonight we’d get to peer at planets and stars through more powerful ‘scopes with their owners lending their expertise besides.

            At near dusk we hurried for the “Public Telescope Viewing Section” like kids to a toy store. The first ‘scope we came to stood eight feet tall on its Dobson mount, a wide platform based solidly on the ground. Beside it was a stepladder for looking through the eyepiece on top.

            Owner Jeff looked down at us from the ladder. “Like it? I built it from scratch.” Rightfully proud, he added, “My reflector has a twenty-two inch mirror-the largest one here. When it’s darker, come and see some great close-ups of fantastic star clusters!”

            There were still only two points of light in the sky, the most brilliant being Venus over the west horizon, while fainter and directly above was Saturn.

            Catching us looking up, another NCSF member, Rick, called us over to his 14-inch Star-finder Meade refractor. “It’s still a bit light out, but I’ve got Saturn zeroed in. Take a look.”

             First at the eyepiece, Ruthie exclaimed, “Wow!”, then looked some more as I fidgeted for my turn. When it was, a “Wow!” escaped me, too. A totally mesmerizing sight if ever there was one, Saturn’s banded image stood out clearly against a background tinted deep blue in the fading light. Shown edge-on, her rings were a sharp line dividing the planet in two.

            As Ruthie and I were wowing back and forth, a group of youngsters were doing likewise at a 4-inch refractor on a nearby table. Owner Charlotte was switching the kids back and forth between this one and her homemade 10-inch reflector. When we joined in, I was already thinking about buying us a new ‘scope. I asked Charlotte, “Which of these do you like best?”

             “Both have their good points. My refractor’s like a ship captain’s telescope and gives double the magnification than a same-sized reflector. But my reflector’s mirror catches way more of the light from these objects and has a larger field of view.”

            Someone beat me to the punch. “How much?”

            “This Dobson reflector goes for $350. Not bad considering what they used to run.”

            Fired-up to get one some years back, my buying flame had been snuffed out at seeing the cost. Whereas-now? I muttered to Ruthie, “Let’s give our cheapo kids some birthday gift hints.”

             “Dear, they’ve been ignoring your hints about ‘scopes for years.”

            Soon the Milky Way was a great highway of brilliant points across the night sky. I had our plan-i-sphere, a plate-sized astronomy tool for locating the constellations at the right dates and times of night. Not as easy as it looks, I had to orient myself directly north, dial the proper setting while holding it over my head, and shine a low interference red-filtered penlight to read it. Assuming I knew which constellation I was using as a reference to begin with.

             I growled, “Sweetie, I need three hands with this thing!”

            Continued in Part II; how we did and what else we saw.