The 2018 StarGrazing Event: 14 th to 17 th April. Wet Weather: (Astronomer s Bane) If the forecast for the Public Day, Saturday, 14 April is for rain, consider the telescope muster, public afternoon and evening, cancelled. You may wish to check this site to confirm. If the weather for Saturday the 14th is uncertain, check this site for an update. If conditions are likely to clear for the 15th to 18th of April, the event will continue for amateur astronomers. Again check this site for an update. The public day and evening Saturday, 14 April, 2018: Public Day Telescope Muster - Ben Lomond Oval: 12 noon onwards. If you have a telescope, bring it. If you know someone with a telescope, pass this on. If you no longer want it, you can put a price on it and see if you can find a buyer to take it off your hands. If you want to use it but lack some knowledge, there should be others that you can ask questions and get you going. If you use your telescope already, then consider staying with other amateur astronomers for the event running over the next few days. Bring warm clothing, food and drink as you need for the afternoon. Public Day Afternoon/Evening Program: There are also amateur astronomers in the region coming with their telescopes to help us show the public the stars, planets, and other objects of interest on this evening. There will be some casual roaming talks at the oval about different kinds of telescopes. There will be some talks in the Ben Lomond War Memorial Hall orientated to the general public. The Hall is about 5 minutes walk from the oval. The evening talk will begin after 4 pm. Check here for an update closer to the 14th for more details. If you are attending this event as a member of the public, you will need to be able to walk, or if in a wheelchair, be pushed or travel at least 400 m. Public car parking will necessarily be restricted to the approaching roadsides in the village. There will be a walk of about 150m from where you park to the Hall, then a further walk of about 100m from the Hall to the oval where the telescopes will be set up. Car parking at the Hall and oval can not be permitted as the car headlights when people leave is counter to the astronomy nature of the event. There is a wheelchair accessible toilet at the Hall. ** Bring warm clothing. ** You need to bring a torch with red cellophane over the end so it shines only red light. ( You can buy red cellophane as gift wrap at your local newsagent. Use more than one rubber band to hold it on. ) Talks List - Public and Amateur Astronomy Talks.
Map below of village parking arrangements. Due to the nature of this event, there is need for cars to be parked away from the oval. The road past the Hall and past the oval will be closed restricted. There will be access for local residents, cars with telescopes, amateur astronomers, and drop off of disabled.
Map below of oval access and site arrangements. For Amateur Astronomers. Sat 14th to Tues 17th April 2018. The remainder of that night April 14th after 10 pm, and the following three days and nights have been reserved for just amateur astronomers. (And those they invite to stay with them.) On the Sunday afternoon 15th of April, about 3:00 pm to 4:45 pm, the Hall and its audiovisual light projector will be available for talks of relevance to amateur astronomers. Talks List - Public and Amateur Astronomy Talks. There will be a BYO Astronomers Dinner Sunday afternoon beginning 5:30 pm. As we have not organised catering, it is a bring our own meal affair. Plates, cutlery, tea and coffee will be available at the Hall. Given people have diverse food needs, and we have a shoe string budget, we thought this the best way to go this year. Tent or van camping is available at the oval for amateur astronomers. You will see for the site map we encourage those that have a car or van as part of their telescope set up, to use the western part of the oval, and those that just have a telescope to set up, use the eastern half of the oval. This makes for better flow with people, and those tent camping can remain closer to their telescopes. There is a village BBQ and weather shed to cook meals adjacent to the oval. There will be a portaloo and one permanent loo within walking distance of the oval. There are no showering facilities are the oval. There are showers accessible at the Guyra truck stop 20 minutes drive away. See map further below. More Details
Last year, our focus for the event was to seek assessment of our village, its assets, its location, and it's night sky conditions from the amateur astronomy community for consideration as a worthwhile place for an annual star party for north-east New South Wales. The overwhelming response from the amateur astronomers attending was yes definitely. Dark sky measurements at the oval topped the Bortle scale with readings greater than 22. The broad format for the event is the same this year. To hold it at a time of new moon, this year the event occurs outside NSW school holidays. This is unusual. Usually the event will fall on the last weekend of the NSW public school holidays. This is only our second year, so we are still testing various arrangements and formats while we also work within current constraints. There are a few changes to the event this year. Adding the Telescope Muster: First, having established that we are going ahead with an annual star party, the next step is to connect with as many telescope owners and amateur astronomers as possible in the surrounding region. Hence this year we have added the Telescope Muster" beginning Saturday noon. We are encouraging anyone who is an active amateur astronomer, or perhaps bought a telescope that is now collecting dust, to bring it to the Ben Lomond recreation ground oval on this afternoon. We have already promoted this on ABC radio a month ago, and we will be putting out the call on radio again where we can over the region. If this proves a success, we may continue it annually as an opportunity for swapping and selling of telescopes as part of this event. Funding to run this event: Unfortunately our village community has not yet resolved our annual allocation of funds, to which we would normally cover the up front costs for holding this event. We are once again holding the event on a shoestring. This financial situation is a flow on from the process of forced amalgamations in NSW. We are expecting to have this resolved by this next year s event, 2019. This year, to help us cover costs, we will have a bucket for gold coin donations on the public night. Last year, the cost was about $2500 all up. We hope to run the event this year for less. There is a donation box in the weather shed next to the village BBQ should you want to make a contribution to help us run and build this event. Village Street Lights: We will not be turning off the village street lights this year. There are no streetlights at the Oval itself, but they do add some degree of scattered light all the same. Given we are holding this festival annually, we have some initiatives in the pipeline to enable us to more easily turn off the street lights near the oval just for this event. We also hope to change the type of lights used, and add better downward light shielding for lights not hear the oval. Given these circumstances, we will use this year as a test year for views on how much the street lights in the village have an impact. There are varying views so far. Some suggesting, not really worth worrying about. Others, yes, having the street lights off makes a difference. I have attempted some lights off vs later lights on photos of the village I can show on Sunday afternoon. I am keen to seem them off for this event. Most in the village have no issue with this. The constraint this year was time to organise and cost. Amateur Astronomy Talks at the Hall: Sunday afternoon there is an opportunity for anyone to give a talk to fellow amateurs for 10 to 20 mins, or longer if required. A talk can be on your success with some astrophotography, or solving a telescope problem, or your review on a piece of astronomy gear. The talks can be quite casual. We will have a gong or bell for anyone that mumbles so completely that they can not be understood at all. Above that, and your fine to share something. Given you may only have an audience of 5 to 10 people, it is a good chance to practice a little public presentations skills. We do encourage people wanting to give a talk to put some thought and preparation into it. Longer talks of 30 minutes are for more experienced presenters that can demonstrate proper preparation. Note that any use of the light projector for a talk in the Hall requires connecting to an hdmi cable. Resolution of the light projector in the hall is "average" by modern standards. It is not a full high resolution light projector. Astronomers Dinner: Last year, we held a catered dinner for amateur astronomers at the Hall. We thought this was a good idea, and we appreciated all the feedback we gained from those who came to the dinner. This year, we have not organised for the option of paid catered meals. We still are going to hold an "astronomers dinner" though, on Sunday early evening. It will be an entirely "bring your own food" dinner. This will follow the talks in the hall in the late afternoon. Of course it's optional, but it is a time to connect with some of the others attending in a way that's different to out on the oval. So plan ahead for what you can bring if your coming. We still hope to offer catered meals at the Hall for those that would like them as part of the event in future years. Warm Spot at the Oval: For those observing late into the night, we are looking at trialing a different solution for a "warm spot" at the oval. A place where astronomers can warm up, have some hot soup, or a cuppa during the night. One of our local residents will be setting up a gas camp oven and offering baked potatoes with sour cream and chives, and some brewed coffee at a reasonable price. We have applied for a grant to begin to renovate this shed structure at the oval with a view to making it a much better asset for amateur astronomers at this event, and also hire-able for astronomy groups over the rest of the year. Last year, we had the tea and coffee at the Hall eating area. We discovered that light from here does impact on the west side of the oval. Another reason for the change. We intend to put up some tarps so to shield light from the weather shed next to the village BBQ. Keep the light
down from there. Note there is camping near the BBQ just over the fence, with closer walk to the loo and BBQ. Traffic Control at the oval: This arises from feedback last year. Having people try and drive onto the oval in the dark and middle of the night with telescopes and gear all round the place clearly is a risk that will bring accident and loss sooner or later. Hence we have introduced a rule of no vehicles entering or leaving the oval during night time. So once your on the oval with a vehicle and its dark, you need to stay the night. The alternative is to park off the oval, and walk gear to the car if you need to pack up before dawn. If you unexpectedly need to go and get something, perhaps seek a lift with another astronomer with a car not on the oval. Telescope collect and leave times at the oval: The other issue with people leaving in the night is car headlights as people pack up. Hence, for the public night, and astronomer nights, we have identified a specific car park spot just inside the main gate to the oval, but not on the oval, and added two specific times for people to leave: 10 pm to 11 pm, and 2 am to 3 am. Telecommunications at the Oval: There is both Telstra and Optus mobile phone and wireless internet access at the oval. The Telstra service is not nearly as reliable as the Optus service. Indeed some times very poor. The Optus tower has recently been upgraded to a G4 rural service. 18Mbs/50Mbs. If your with Telstra you might want to consider a pre-paid Optus sim for the weekend if you need lots of data access and your not locked in on contract. Medical: Should some medical event arise, there is a multifunction medical centre including after hours emergency in Guyra (about 20 mins drive), and a regional hospital and Emergency Unit at Armidale Hospital (55 mins drive). Wet or overcast night: If one of the amateur nights are cloudy, overcast or raining, we will use the Hall as an alternative venue. We can access videos of interest on astronomy off the internet, arrange to show pictures taken past by those attending, and add some more talks and discussions. One thing we can not do is control the weather (yet). Camping Reminders: There is camping at the oval. It gets cold, and camp wood fires are not allowed given this strongly impacts the astronomy seeing conditions. You will be at 1370m. Bring seriously warm gear - clothing, sleeping bag etc. Night ground temperatures get down to -8 C on some nights, with -2 to -4 C quite common at this time of year. For those that use their car as camp vehicle and telescope support, we would encourage you to set up on the west side of the oval as per the oval site map. That is on the side further away from the main entrance the public will use. This keeps the east side more clear for those pitching a tent, and wanting to set their telescope up nearby on the oval. Coming Early: If amateur astronomers want to come earlier, Fri, choose a prime camping spot, and perhaps get some observing in Friday night, feel free to come then. We will start setting up on Fri around the village, ready for Saturday. The Hall will not be open, but the village loo will be open. If you want to assist in our setting up, just ask what you can do. If the is something, we ll let you know. Overall, the event will be a fairly casual event this year. Please bring a contributing positive and resilient spirit to help us build this annual event. The - Talks list (Google Doc): Talks List - Public and Amateur Astronomy Talks.
Where to go for a meal: The road connecting Ben Lomond to Glencoe is a graded dirt road. Glencoe - Red Lion Pub. Sit down meals. Phone ahead. Not open Mon night. On New England Hwy. Ph 02 6733 3271 Guyra - Rafters Restaurant. Sit down meals. Not open Sun night or Mon. Book ahead (going to be busy). On New England Hwy. Ph 02 6779 1876 Guyra - Caltex Truck Stop: Sit down meals. Get there before 8:30 pm best. On New England Hwy. Ph 02 6779 1462 Glen Innes - lots, internet search.
Nearby accommodation: Ben Lomond Silent Grove Farm Stay: Contact: John & Dorothy Every. Ph 02 6733 2117 M: 0427 936 799 This farm stay business is less than 20 minutes drive from the oval site, to the north. May be booked out already. They also host campers for $10 a night, with the above-mentioned shower available. For this event I think you re probably better pitching a tent at the Oval, and if need be traveling up for a shower. Red Lion Pub: Ph 02 6733 3271 This is a pub at Glencoe, on the New England Hwy, about 20 minutes drive from the Ben Lomond village. They also offer sit down meals and liquid refreshments for adults. Family friendly in my experience. I have had friends stay there and they gave a good report. There are two ways to drive there from the village, one a dirt back road, the other a sealed road via the highway. There is less than two minutes difference so I would recommend the sealed road. Shiralee Hotel: Ph 02 6779 1380 Guyra is the nearest town on the highway south from Ben Lomond Village. About 20 minutes drive from the oval site. There is a clash on this weekend with the University Of New England having its Graduation Ceremony, and some other events. Almost all booked out in Guyra, Shiralee still has rooms as of Thurs 5 April. Worth a call. They are on the New England Highway. Glen Innes township: About 35 to 40 minutes drive north from Ben Lomond Village. Lots of options. Internet search.