Anyone here from Cherry County? (Valentine, Davenport: RV park, motorhome, purchase)

[mattpoulsen]

Stargazer,

At one point I planned on going into astronomy/astrophyics and my undergrad degree is physics with an astrophysics emphasis. In fact, I coauthored a few papers on AGN back before I went off into the area of condensed matter physics.

For an undergrad project I once had to do some asteroid tracking and orbit determination...how sophisticated is your setup? Although maybe somewhat mundane compared to cosmology and astrophyics, I always found asteroid tracking pretty cool...I think maybe just because it felt more tangible. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.

[star_gazer]

Unfortunately, my 'setup' is pretty unsophisticated. I rely on ephemeris' created by physicists such as yourself (asteroid tracking isn't nearly tangible enough for me!)

JPL has an application called Horizons which will generate one for any number of bodies and locations ( HORIZONS Web-Interface )

I don't have 'digital setting circles' on any of my telescopes (we call ourselves 'Star Hoppers' !)... so I simply map the trajectory on a star atlas... and visually locate the field of view in which an object is located/will pass through.

I wish I had a stronger background in the science/theory of astronomy/physics. I suppose I'm more of a 'romantic' astronomer (of course it's just a hobby... by day I'm in the IT field).

Then of course that son of mine, who hopes to walk in the footsteps of someone the likes of you. As it happens, he has very little interest in spending cold nights outside, looking at faint fuzzies through an eyepiece though.

[mattpoulsen]

Well, lucky for your son pretty much all observational astrophysics is done in front of the romantic glow of a computer screen tucked away in a control center of an observatory.

I'm a romantic as well. Growing up in "middle of nowhere Nebraska" I fell in love with astronomy and science by looking up at the night sky. To this day its something I can do for hours on end. Living in Omaha its something I miss.

[star_gazer]

If you get really bored... you can stop by one of our monthly Omaha Astronomical Society meetings ( Omaha Astronomical Society : Omaha, Nebraska )... we meet the first Friday of each month on the UNO campus. We have a private 'dark sky' site near Weeping Water (about 35-40 minutes south)... while there's Omaha glow in the northeast... the sky isn't bad... magnitude 5+ (ie for lay people... the Milky Way is plenty bright). I'll also spontaneously make trips to Behlen (if that rings any bells... I would guess you've been there on a few occasions)... which is only 25 minutes west of me... not nearly as good a skies, horrible horizon... but still some Milky Way.

Or closer to home... we'll be doing a gathering at Lake Zorinsky on the evening of the upcoming total lunar eclipse (Feb 20th). We'll have a bunch of scopes set up... Saturn will be above the horizon... we'll even look at some 'deep sky' stuff while the moon is 'obscured'. I'm sending out press releases.. so in case anyone forgets, it should be mentioned in the media. Clear skies permitting of course.

[SCGranny]

Oh. 500. Is that all? Wow. I had a "pig pick" (Where we slow-roast a whole pig in a cooker all day, and then folks 'pick' off what they want) in my backyard for 250 once, and I plan our yearly festival here which over two days brings in 20,000, plus fishing rodeos for the kids, and town Easter egg hunts, and the Christmas event... Somehow I was betting on about 30,000 overall at the Star Party week, and thinking about portolets and portable stages and electrical/water hookups for vendors already!
That was my bad... I really do have to start thinking really rural, don't I? I feel dumb. (Schmacks myself several times in the forehead)

I guess in July the beach and the air conditioning would be nice, though! Our beaches here are pretty muddy, and the water is filthy (and mostly salt) so I really hate to go to them, cause you come home dirtier than when you left! I'm actually thinking of finding out if there is a way to do a stock pond/swimmin hole on the property... It's been years since I've seen a clean river or pond, or one without gators.

Maybe there's a way to work with this guy at the reservoir - find out if and why he resents the groups (way beforehand) and accommodate him? He must know it is an historical event, and brings him fame - and money, too, right? While it is possible that he just wanted the lakeside - may have even thought it was a development opportunity, and was disappointed - and is upset about visitors, he may just feel disrespected. Not saying he has a reason to, mind you - but people get hurt feelings over the darndest things, and most of them really have nothing to do with people outside of their home. Sometimes just being honest and up front with them("is there a reason we seem to make you uncomfortable?") gives them a chance to address their issues, clears the air and makes people feel better.

At any rate, if we can get moved by then, I'll meet ya'll at the reservoir!

I can understand folks not wanting to camp; we used to camp all the time - but bones and joints get older and it gets a lot harder to get up off of the ground when the hips and back don't work like they usedta!

We have a lot of amateur astronomers here; my daughter has a telescope and we use it with her to watch cosmic events. The asteroid may be too late too catch here - or too early; I get up at 5 and they say it will be overhead at 3:33 our time! Sigh. I like weekend events... plus a lot of times the glow from the cities' lights obscures many events. True "dark" is severely underrated!

[itsMeFred]

True "dark" is severely underrated!

It's one of the things I love most about living in BFE.
In fact, our yard light burned out about a year ago and we've never replaced it.

[mattpoulsen]

The Star Party is something that is very unique to Valentine and it has garnered quite a bit of attention. However, it being small isn't really a function of being rural...its a function of the times we live in. We have music festivals out in the country that bring in 10's of thousands of people...the problem is most young people (I'm 32 so that's my scale for "young") these days no longer appreciate the simple things in life.

At any rate, I'd hate to here the star party leave the Valentine area. I hope that doesn't happen.

[star_gazer]

NSP won't be leaving the Valentine area... it has far too much to offer (beyond nearby dark skies).

While we're on the subject... for our friends in the pan handle... the Panhandle Astronomy Club (Scottsbluff/Gering area) has been hosting a star party of it's own for a couple of years now. Not nearly on the same scale as NSP... but something to check out if you're in the area nonetheless.

Western Nebraska Star Gaze

[Sandhills Guru]

I am no official star gazer like what is being discussed here. But I enjoy an occasional winter camping trip out away from it all. What a beautiful show on a clear winter night can be seen.

[CindyLBW]

I am sixth generation Cherry County. Many things are subjective, whether you enjoy the outdoors activities offered here, the hunting and fishing are excellent, we ran a hunting business for 20 years. I grew up in and around Valentine, although I currently do business around Mullen, which is a very friendly community. The Sandhills is a good area to raise your children, there are the same problems as anywhere else, but easier to keep an eye on. Tourism brings in good money around Valentine, especially in the summer. As far as jobs though they are relatively limited if you want one that pays well. It's a trade off between lifestyle and cash. Going down the Niobrara in Valentine, the Dismal or Loup in Mullen, or spending the day at Merritt or the south refuge lakes are all very relaxing. Ranching has fostered the can do attitude, and people here for the most part are very independant. Yes it is very hot and windy in the summers and cold and windy in the winters, some years we have humidity and some years we have a lot of snow, one thing they always say here is if you don't like the weather stick around it will change.