Starfest Ontario 2022!

[Sunshine]

My first official star party was more than I could handle, a MASSIVE! turnout after a two year covid hiatus made for tents and trailers for an almost km long stretch. Event trailers, speakers from various fields including Dr. Ian Shelton who first reported supernova 1987A while working at Las Campanas observatory in Chile.  My first night was a bust as the clouds set in but an announcement was made that in the event tent they were showing Interstellar on the screen which was great!. A food truck served late into the evening which was nice as it turnout to be a spot where fellow amateurs would congregate to order food and mingle amongst each other sparking new friendships. This was great, people came from far and wide, cars one after the other throughout the day made their way into the park once the red cellophane people at the gate swarmed everyone’s cars with painters tape hurriedly covering their headlights with efficiency, I began calling them the cellophane ninjas which earned some chuckles around the food truck 😂. 

While on my way back from that food truck I heard two gentleman speaking and sure enough I recognized one as Trevor Jones and his wife Ashley, I had to stop and say hello, Trevor was friendly as can be and Ashley took out photo then I left them alone as everyone seemed to recognize them and were eager to exchange words. 

The two nights I have spent at Starfest which was a two hour drive from my home has been a whirlwind of activity, so many people to meet during the day as groups of friends would make rounds around the park to shake hands and check out others telescopes. Several times while sitting in my lawn chair next to my tent small groups of people would pass by and say hello, almost all would gather around my 102, some even taking photos as though it were a celebrity, words like “beautiful” spoken amongst  themselves while looking at my scope made me feel proud.

Then there were the Imagers, ( “the imagers” used affectionately of course)  a group of five came so say hello, they were inspecting my 102 as though it were an alien artifact then while speaking amongst themselves in clipped and hushed tones I found myself surrounded, one of them asked why there was an eyepiece instead of a camera in my scope. There was no exit as two of them stood to my flanks but I stood my ground and said “this was made by human being for the enjoyment of other human beings” it is an instrument for inspiration and wonder, it is not merely a tool one uses , like a wrench. They thought that was funny, two of them admitted they also have eyepieces and we shook hands and they were off, it could have ended badly had I not stood my ground, watch out for imagers.

Last night as we all waited for sundown on the rolling hills the chatter of hundreds of amateurs all laughing and setting up their gear was wonderful. Some scurried from the food truck clutching their food so they’d be ready for sundown, I had never seen such an astro spectacle like this, a sea of tents and trailers under a beautiful night sky. This may sound odd but it was so wonderful that the observing part almost took a back seat to the experience of the event itself and the friends I made, I found myself giving starsense demo after starsense demo, the imagers seemed to love it and they seemed to spend a lot of time looking at Jupiter through my 102, I called them out on it, threatening to tell their imaging friends about all the time they’re spending at my eyepiece 😂.

Wow is all I can say when recalling this past couple of days, some planned to stay the four days, next time I surely will stay for the whole event, sometimes while walking around the ocean of tents I thought about my friends here on SGL, it would have been nice to have you all here, too!

 

Trevor and Ashley Jones of Astrobackyard 

 

In every corner of this large park far from city lights, tents and more tents. 

Edited August 28, 2022 by Sunshine

[JeremyS]

Sounds great. Glad you had a wonderful time.

[MalcolmM]

Great read! Sounds like a lot of fun!

Malcolm 

[DaveL59]

how on earth did they transport that huge light bucket tho, on the back of a semi? 😮 

[Sunshine]

35 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

how on earth did they transport that huge light bucket tho, on the back of a semi? 😮 

No idea, it’s a 36” canon I wondered that myself lol

[markse68]

Sounds amazing Sunshine! I don't think we have anything as big as that in the UK? I'd like to go to one. Did you get to look through that monster scope? The focuser looks hilariously small on it 🤣

Mark

[Sunshine]

Actually did not have a look as I was caught up with my own gear and doing starsense demo’s for inquiring passers by I forgot about it 🥲 it’s ok I’m sure celestron will release one soon 😂

[icpn]

I susp[ect that the Autumn Kelling here in the UK will not be far off the size with 800 or so astronomers turning up. Interesting to see so many tents. The aging population here means there are more caravans and motorhomes than tents at Kelling. Unfortunately the detierioating skies means the larger telescopes don't come any more..

[Nicola Fletcher]

Thank you for the report and super photos Sunshine, your Tak looks so classy! And that massive dob - wow!

Edited August 29, 2022 by Nicola Fletcher