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The Largest 'Star Party'
Amateur Astronmers Gather at Stellafane to Stargaze
The audio for this story will be available online after 12PM ET, 9AM PT.
 Listen to Kelly Beatty's commentary.
Kelly Beatty, executive editor of Sky and Telescope magazine, is attending Stellafane. He wrote this introduction to the event for NPR Online.
In dark skies, the Milky Way is easily visible to the unaided eye. This long-exposure photograph captures its dense star clouds and dark dust lanes.
Photo:Sky & Telescope photo by Dennis di Cicco
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People gathered near the clubhouse at the Stellafane gathering spot.
Photo:Sky & Telescope photo by Dennis di Cicco
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The Ring Nebula (M57) appears as a diminutive doughnut of light through most small telescopes, though larger ones reveal the detail seen here.
Photo: Sky & Telescope by Dennis di Cicco
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Aug. 9, 2002 --
Every summer amateur astronomers around the country hold hundreds of "star parties," inviting the general public to look through their telescopes at the night sky's many wonders.
The granddaddy of these events is Stellafane, which has drawn astronomy enthusiasts since the 1920s. This weekend, sky watchers will come together again just outside Springfield, Vt., for the annual sky-watching gathering.
Stellafane is a place many city folk go to escape the pall of city lights, and to steep themselves in darkness for a few precious nights. The name of the event, loosely translated, means "a shrine to the stars."
One big draw is the chance to see the Milky Way, Earth's home galaxy, without the intrusion of light pollution. In a clear, rural sky, the Milky Way is dense with stars, a luminous river of light that arches from horizon to horizon.
Another perennial crowd-pleaser is M13, a tight cluster of 100,000 stars in the constellation Hercules that looks like a scoopful of diamond dust in the inky blackness. The Ring Nebula (M57), in the constellation Lyra, also a big draw, is an expanding shell of luminous gas shed by a dying star.
And of course there are the telescopes themselves, many of which are painstakingly made by hand. Some backyard telescopes are the size of circus cannons and you need a ladder to reach the eyepiece.
Just after Stellafane concludes, on the nights of Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, even casual skywatchers can catch the annual Perseid meteor shower. In very late evening -- and especially after midnight -- anyone with a clear, dark sky can expect to see one of these shooting stars every minute or so.
 Browse more NPR stories on astronomy.
Other Resources
• Learn more about this annual event at the Stellafane Web site.
• Learn about the history of the Stellafane Observatory.
• Find a star party in your area.
• Learn more about the Perseid meteors.
• Find an astronomy club in your area.
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