Joining star party....

April 2008. I joined group observation with ISG led by Mas Adi. This was my first time joining a star party. We chose a dark site in the campus of Bogor Agricultural University, about 60 km south of Jakarta to avoid light pollution. We found the site quite comfortable and dark, and the sky was amazingly clear. Each of us unwrapped and installed our gadgets. 

To my surprise, lots of people were interested in observing, with various types and sizes of telescopes. I saw Mas Winston with his WO 110 APO and NextImage software preparing to take photo of Jupiter. I also noted Mas Subchan with his Power Seeker and Pak Tatang brought his jumbo Dobsonian!

Pak Tatang with his Dobsonian (left), Mas Subchan checked his Power Seeker (center) and Mas Winston with his WO 110

With binocular I only acquired a few days earlier, I enjoyed scanning stars in the constellation Scorpius. Towards its tail, near stars Eta Scorpii-1 and Eta Scorpii-2, I noticed another star crowd: NGC6231. On another night, I scanned through Carina in the ’eastern’ side of Crux, and stuck with the beautiful Southern Pleiades (IC2602) near Eta Carinae. This is a very nice DSO located about 500 light year from us, and Eta Cariane is dominating the crowd. 

The next night, near Mimosa of Crux, I found another star crowd: NGC4755, which is also known as ”The Jewel Box”. This is one of many beautiful star clusters for it’s sparkling diamond-like stars. Another star party at the end of May, still in Bogor, was not as impressive as the first one. Similarly star party in June, organized by Prominence Scopehouse, but I met many enthusiasts, and joining a star party is always a relieving escape.