The San Juan Stargazers may be having a star party on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Looking at a weather forecast for Friday, Oct. 9, it shows a bright sunny day, and Sunday, Oct. 11, shows rain for the day. And, of course, Saturday shows the sun with a cloud and rain drops. But, we cannot complain about the new weather patterns that are bringing us much-needed rain from the Pacific in the fall and, this year, not too much.
It is easy to understand how difficult it was for the ancient people to live here. It is amazing to compare our lives and times to what they had to contend with. I would hate to depend on what I could grow on my land or my allotment from a shared crop. It is also understandable that there was not one date when everyone left. Ancient people had individual lives, individual situations and individual temperaments with varying levels of tolerance. It can contribute much to your life to compare our lives to the ancient ones.
There are several club members who live on or near Hatcher Lake. There will be a consensus by 6 p.m. and a very brief article on our website, Sanjuanstargazers.org, where you follow the arrow at the bottom of the homepage.
Since the public is invited, we need to have a public official notice, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to see the website. As always, individuals can independently show up with or without their telescopes even if it is officially canceled.
Following are the directions to the public star party south of the Hatcher Lake dam. Everyone is invited.
Drive north on Piedra Road 4.7 miles from U.S. 160. If you can see Hatcher Lake to your left you have gone too far, but you just missed it. Try to watch your odometer because 4.7 miles is close to the road that goes left off Piedra and is labeled La Ventana. There is also a large sign with the name of the subdivision. If you can get there during daylight it is a beautiful place to be. You will see a parking lot on a small road to the left off Piedra with a wooden lavatory. The big fishing pier has been removed. The road makes a big loop through the trees just south of the Hatcher dam. There is a large parking lot to set up telescopes, and cars can park along the road.
We hope to see you. We hope the weather will allow us to gather.
Just to mention, Mont McAllister will be doing the James Webb Space Telescope presentation at our next educational meeting on Thursday, Nov. 5. It will be on galaxies discovered by the James Webb — just some of them. There are way too many to show in one night. But, we will be awed by the sites of one night.
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