It’s not every day that one is invited to a Saturday Star Party. A Star Party with carefully prepared food and drink, in the open air and countryside and with music being the music of the spheres and a party where the company is mercifully short on A-listers and B-listers, being a group of enthusiastic astronomers on a biannual bash.
Rolling up to the designated ‘dark site’ on the outskirts of Redditch with my two- year-old-but-never-used-until-2 days-before Dobsonian telescope in the boot, I expected to see only a couple of keen astronomers gazing upwards
I was surprised to see that the car park was packed full, allowing me just to squeeze between 2 vehicles, the owners of which had already set up their telescopes and were now enjoying fortifying themselves with sausages and burgers, ready for a long evening.
Though Ron and Derek from Redditch Astronomical Society had set up the telescope in my garden on the previous Wednesday – an act of sheer supportive kindness and generosity of spirit – I feared that I would struggle to do this alone now and, even worse, before an audience of some 50 people in broad, though diminishing, daylight.
In one respect I was right to be concerned. Having heaved the ‘Dob’, as I would learn to call it, out of the car, I started to set it up, trying to look utterly professional and unfazed. When Ron came running towards me commenting “You haven’t turned it towards the sun have you?”, I realized then that I had very much to learn (I had just inadvertently risked blindness), but also that this community of enthusiasts would not let me fail, and the whole evening confirmed this.
It wasn’t just the stars, the many detailed views of the moon or even my first opportunity to see Saturn and her rings that impressed that night. It was the community. Whether Derek and his lenses or Mick and his ‘Barlows’ (and I learned so much about equipment), Karen and her encouragement, or all the other friendly astronomers who were truly delighted to have an ageing starstruck newbie look through their telescopes (even providing a box to stand on when necessary) and who would explain, fix, discuss, educate and enthuse and never patronize, I found nothing but welcoming helpfulness. The only aim was to share their love of looking at the universe and their knowledge to help others do this too.
As darkness crept in, though sadly the distant and apparently increasing urban orange impaired ideal viewing, talk was muted, head-torches glowed red, to preserve ‘night vision’, and those with computer trackers and I-Phone Apps consulted their equipment, talk turned to other evenings and other sights, of Perseid showers and meteors, of deep space and the opportunities for photography. And Ron, of course, made sure everyone was set up and all was well.
Without any Science qualification at all (though I might now embark on the GCSE Astronomy currently available at St Augustine’s!), with no experience with telescopes and with no knowledge of the stars, I am now a member of this amazing group and I look forward to learning more.
As I drove away that night, with no headlights on to preserve the dark, I felt grateful for a remarkable time and I silently promised to:
Buy my own Barlow
Get a head torch (for the professional look!)
And never, ever…. to point my telescope at the sun.
Val the Newbie
