Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The New York Times
The Texas Star Party on Monday. For many amateur astronomers, the event is their Super Bowl.
By ANNE SAKER
Published: May 10, 2013
FORT DAVIS, Tex. — With a lime-green fleece blanket over his shoulders, Samuel David, 10, of Houston, bounced on his toes as dusk raced over the mountains. Attending his first Texas Star Party this week with his family, Samuel could not wait for a rare phenomenon in a lighted-up, night-denying world — a sky full of nothing but stars.
Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The New York Times
Three fields near Fort Davis, Tex., were planted with telescopes of astounding design, many of them built by hand and all lovingly ferried by car to the dusty desert 5,000 feet above sea level.
“It gives me a sense of direction,” Samuel said. “It’s pretty. It’s a chance to look out there and say, ‘Oh, there it is.’ ”
In its 35th year, the Texas Star Partydrew more than 500 amateur astronomers from across the United States and Canada to the Prude Ranch, six miles from the town of Fort Davis and 5,000 feet above sea level in the Davis Mountains. Three fields were planted with telescopes of astounding design, many of them built by hand and all lovingly ferried by car to the dusty high desert.
The Texas Star Party is run by volunteers from astronomy clubs in Dallas, Houston and Austin with support from the University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory just 16 miles away. For many amateurs, the event is their Super Bowl.
“It’s world famous,” said Keith Venables of Surrey, England, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, who was making his 15th trip. “It’s the biggest and the best. I can do more observing in a week than I can all year at home.”
“There’s nothing like it,” said Pierre Faucher, who brought his telescope with its 24-inch mirror from Raleigh, N.C. “This is where I can get out and get perspective on my place in the universe.”
The infinite science of astronomy gets enrichment from its amateurs. The discipline attracts largely men approaching or in retirement, with time and money, and practitioners say the challenges of drawing young people are growing.
Light pollution has reduced backyard stargazing to the planets and the brightest stars like Sirius and Arcturus. Climate change generates frustrating banks of cloud cover. More recently, support for expert amateurs to reach out to students has come under threat.
The federal budget proposal for fiscal 2014 would move money that NASA and other agencies grant to outside-the-classroom science clubs to promote their fields to students. The money would instead go to the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution for more teacher training. That idea, said Gary Carter, the president of the Texas Astronomical Society, “is not a bad thing at all.”
“But not everyone goes to college,” he said. “So that’s taking away a tremendous amount of informal education.”
The Texas Star Party packs its daytime schedule with talks and seminars. For “astronomy widows,” the TSP Ladies group hosts a book club and a tea at the main house at Prude Ranch, which the Prude family established as a cattle ranch in the 1890s. Eighty years ago, the family opened its 3,500 acres to guests for camping, horseback riding, bird-watching and R.V. camping — and in 1982, to the Star Party.
Brad Sanders of Houston turned 15 at his second Texas Star Party, and he set up an 18-inch telescope that his father, John, had bought two weeks before. “But for the first hour or two,” Brad said, “we’ll probably just sit out here and enjoy it.”
Samuel David, his three siblings and parents, Michael and Kelly, snuggled into their fleece wraps. The family became interested in astronomy three years ago, and in home schoolingthe couple’s children, Kelly found that peering into the night through “the Houston nebula” only sharpened their interest. Trips to the McDonald Observatory led them to their first Texas Star Party.
“Astronomy teaches so much,” Ms. David said. “There a classical component to it, like music, like art.”
Finally, the sun set, and darkness fell. A ranch horse nickered softly. The firmament took command of the West Texas sky, and everyone looked up.
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