2023 Staunton River Star Party
Scorpius, an early morning highlight of the 2023 SRSP.
Wow, what an experience.
I just returned home from a long weekend (Thurs-Sun) at the 2023 Staunton River Star Party (SRSP) organized by the Chapel Hill Astronomical and Observational Society (CHAOS) , and while I haven’t even downloaded all the photos I took off my cameras, or even fully unloaded my car yet, I had to get down a few thoughts while they were still fresh in my mind.
I had no idea what a star party even was, much less ever been to one. I’m new to the world of ‘social astronomy’ as far as spending time talking with other people about this long-time interest of mine. It’s something my grandmother (also named Ladye Jane) & I shared a love for together. She and I used to pour over her many astronomy books in her office while she taught me how to identify her favorite constellations. At her mountain home in Big Canoe, where the nights were bright from the glow of a sky full of stars without light pollution, she taught me how to track Cassiopeia across the night sky during the different times of year and how to use Polaris and its surrounding constellations to determine my direction at night. My grandmother was the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, and almost every single one of my passions is a direct result of her fostering them when I was a kid or passing them to me in her genetics or something.
But, back to the star party. I had no idea what to expect when I decided to go on a whim and take my two retired racing greyhounds, Shug & Georgia, along for the ride with me on their very first camping trip. I was nervous since I didn’t really know anyone there beyond the handful of fellow Raleigh Astronomy Club members I had met who going, but love camping and thought the girls and I could make a fun trip out of it.
From the nice and relaxing drive from Raleigh to Scottsburg, VA, to the amazing attendees and Staunton River State Park staff who went above and beyond to make the event special for everyone there, the entire weekend from start to finish was one of my favorite events I’ve ever attended. While I’m not new to visual astronomy, I am extremely new to fancy telescopes, so the amount I learned simply through exposure was invaluable, and I’m the event’s biggest new cheerleader, for sure. Here are a few of my biggest highlights and takeaways from the event:
WE SAW AURORA!
Since I didn’t have my telescope with me I spent most of my night sky playing around with my various cameras to see how they do with night sky photography, and noticed some beautiful silvery yellow clouds that seemed to move a little differently than the rest to the North, so snapped a few phone photos of it and went to bed because I was exhausted. The next day the entire camp was abuzz with the fact that several folks had seen the aurora borealis late evening from 11:45-12:30, and people all across the SE had been able to see this rare appearance, and had gotten some amazing photos. Immediately I remembered the shimmery yellow cloud I saw, but had no idea it was aurora (because, Virginia!). Since I was shooting just holding my phone it’s not the best image, but was a beautiful sight in person.
THE PEOPLE Were Amazing.
My retired racing greyhounds made new besties.
For not knowing anyone when I got there, I sure left with a lot of new friends. Everyone was so welcoming to the newbie, and I felt immediately comfortable amongst the group. Since I didn’t have my telescope with me, folks were more than happy to share what they were looking at through theirs. And it was so nice to meet new people with the same interest as me, being new to the whole social aspect of astronomy. I met people from astronomy clubs from all over the Southeast, including the Richmond Astronomy Society and even a group from Georgia. But it wasn’t just the star party attendees who were welcoming it was the staff as well. The VA Park Staff could not have been more helpful, friendly, and do SO MUCH to make the event happen as smoothly as it does. Not to mention they spoiled the girls rotten with pets and attention.
I LEARNED SO MUCH.
I feel like I doubled my astronomical knowledge in just one weekend. During the daytime downtime, different speakers gave presentations on their areas of expertise, ranging from why we haven’t found extraterrestrial life yet, to why Venus/its atmosphere might be a better option for colonization than Mars (GO TEAM VENUS!). In the evenings, I saw more deep sky objects in one night than I had seen in all my evenings skywatching combined to date. My next tent neighbor told me how to troubleshoot some of the issues I’ve been having with my telescope because he has the same one. I’m so grateful for everyone sharing so much with me over the 4 days I was there.
DARK SKIES MATTER.
Staunton River State Park was the first park in Virginia (and I believe is the closest one to Raleigh?) to be designated an International Dark Sky Park, which makes it ideal for stargazing due to lack of light pollution in a ‘blue sky zone’. Comparing the night sky from SRSP to what’s above my head every night in Raleigh, the difference is stark. Light pollution wasn’t something on my immediate conservation radar until I learned these parks existed an that it’s a bigger problem than many people realize and creates all kinds of problems beyond poor stargazing conditions. Would love to see more of these pop up around the world before urban sprawl makes it too late.
SO MANY LITTLE MAGICAL MOMENTS.
It had been a loooooong time since I had been camping, and had forgotten how rejuvenating it is to sleep under the stars and all the fun that entails. My two greyhounds had never been camping before so I was a little worried about how they would do, but they were on their best behavior and loved every minute of it, even tent life. While sharing a two-person tent with two house ponies meant I had 8 legs in my face waking me up at all hours of the night, it also meant I got some special moments at weird times. Like, when they needed to go out at 6am so I walked them to the lake to watch the sunrise and saw one of the resident albino deer along the way.
Or, when Shug woke me up before 5 am running races in her sleep, so I got up to go to the bathroom, and bright in the middle of the Southern sky was one of my favorite constellations, Scorpius, and its brightest star, Antares. Easily identifiable due to it looking like an actual scorpion in the sky, it was one of the first that I learned to find, and I hadn’t seen it all weekend since I hadn’t been awake when it came up. For a split second, it made me feel like I was back in grandmother’s upstairs office staring at my favorite book of hers that had lit the fire in me so many years ago, and it felt wonderful.
The whole experience was so inspiring, I’m already looking forward to the next one in the fall; I’ve heard the Fall version is an even bigger event! The Fall 2023 Staunton River Star Party Fall dates are October 9-15th, so if you want a wonderful place to look at the stars with some great people, please come join me!
Helpful SRSP Resources:
Staunton River State Park General Information
Staunton River Star Party Registration & Information
Raleigh - Raleigh Astronomy Club
Chapel Hill - CHAOS
Richmond - Richmond Astronomy Society