Stellafane 2017

Back towards the end of July, I attended the Stellafane Convention in Springfield, VT for the first time. Every amateur astronomer that I’ve talked with says that Stellafane is a must-do trip. I’m happy to report that yes it is a must-do trip. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here are my thoughts in a somewhat chronological order.

Thursday July 20th: I left Maine quite late after performing last minute packing and buying some provisions on the way there. It took roughly 5 hours to drive from my house to the Stellafane site. Vermont reminds me a lot about Maine; hilly terrain with lots of trees, small towns, and overall nice people. I arrived around 7:30pm and checked in at the gates. Nice staff informed me of overall policies and costs. At the gate price was a bit high because I planned this trip last minute, but not out of the ordinary. When I go again, I’ll be sure to buy in advance to save money. Having never been to the site, it was a lot to take in. Lots of narrow dirt roads and lots of places to camp out. I decided to drive to the back part of the site, a place called Blueberry Ridge and setup camp. There was a nice 18″ Obsession Go-To dob setup near me which was nice. I did quite a bit of observing through that Thursday night. The skies were very dark, much like many parts of Maine. It was the best night of observing. I ended up going to sleep around midnight.

Friday July 21st: I spent a lot of time walking around getting used to the layout of the land. A LOT of walking, close to 15 miles worth. I think I’ll bring a bike next time as that is a much quicker mode of transportation while on the grounds. Weather was sunny, hot, and humid. Friday night’s observing started out okay but got washed out with thin clouds, fog, or ground humidity. I walked up to the hill to see all of the telescopes setup there. Many, many dobs. Obsession is a very popular brand that people bring.

Thankfully there’s a Shaws grocery store right in Springfield that was well stocked. I visited it several times throughout the weekend.

I forgot to finish this post and don’t remember the remaining details unfortunately.