Star party like you mean it

Observing the cosmos with Astronomy Club of Tulsa

On a little hill somewhere southwest of Mounds, Oklahoma, a rusty, abandoned cell tower looms above the treeline. The tower once belonged to AT&T, but there are rumors it originally belonged to the U.S. government and can withstand a nuclear attack. The Astronomy Club of Tulsa (ACT) throws their monthly public observing night, aka star party, just a stone’s throw from its silent, witchy presence.

Roughly 100 yards from the old tower is the ACT Observatory, a large permanent structure that houses ACT’s main telescope—a 14” RCX 400 Richey-Chrétien (the same design as the Hubble Space Telescope). On the night I attended, a club member carefully searched the nooks and crannies of the observatory with a small flashlight.

“What are you looking for, Sheldon?” asked Richard Brady, Tulsa Astronomy Club’s president.

“My flashlight.”

“Well I’m assuming it’s not the flashlight that’s in your hand,” Brady deadpanned.

Sheldon wasn’t looking for just any flashlight, but a stargazing flashlight. The red light on such a device doesn’t disturb the human eye as it acclimates to darkness. To best observe the night skies, you need to tune your eyes to black. It takes the eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to darkness, and a key element of star party etiquette is keeping any white lights turned off after dark.

Roughly twenty-two miles outside of Tulsa, the stillness compliments the profundity of the event. ACT holds regular events for observing the night sky and sharing ideas about astronomy. But club members aren’t only interested in planets, stars, nebulae, and deep cosmic features. They also appreciate the beauty of the total sky. To lay outside ACT’s observatory on a blanket at night and gaze up is to get lost in a tapestry of stars, to become mesmerized by a display that has captivated human imagination for millennia.

At a star party—because ACT members bring their own telescopes and allow newbies to look into them—you can witness in real time the unfolding drama of the cosmos.

One member, Shannon, aimed his Schmidt-Cassegrain scope at Saturn. Through it you could see Saturn and her rings flanked by moons, which appeared in the scope as several tiny but clear speckles. The image was brilliant and dynamic—wholly unlike the flat textbook photos to which we’re accustomed.

Another member, Bill, brought his 6” Newtonian scope out to do some astrophotography. Astrophotography, as he explained to the folks who dropped by to watch him work, is all about alignment. The rotation of the earth means that even a small exposure time could be compromised if the scope isn’t locked onto its target throughout the duration of the shoot. It’s a painstaking buildup, with the payoff being a tasty photo capture.

“Do you know what the Hercules keystone is?” asked Michael, proud owner of a killer 14” Dobsonian reflector scope.

We shrugged.

Michael pulled a laser pointer out of his pocket. Using its bright green beam—which, no joke, shoots all the way into outer space—Michael pointed out, star by star, the small formation that makes up the keystone-shaped, trapezoidal feature in the Hercules constellation.

“Ohhh,” we said.

Next, we peered into Michael’s scope, focused on the M13 cluster located in Hercules. The cluster is a dense spider web of white dots, and all three of us newbies were impressed by both the image and the badass laser pointer.

Strolling through the star party, one gets a feeling that though the night sky may not exist so we can view her, she rewards those who witness her manifest grandeur.

In the sense that reverence of something grand and beautiful demands stewardship, the members of the ACT keep the fire burning for those in Tulsa drawn to observe. This year, ACT celebrates its 80th anniversary of observation.

The Astronomy Club of Tulsa holds two star parties each month, a public version and one for members. They also host a monthly Sidewalk Astronomy night at Bass Pro Shops in Broken Arrow, and a general meeting for members at the Jenks High School Planetarium.

The next public star party will be held October 14. The suggested donation is per person is $2. Star parties may be canceled due to clouds, so check ACT’s website, astrotulsa.com, before heading out.