SPY
HILL
Research
Poughkeepsie, New York
SPY
HILL
Research
As of Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 22:58:53 EST
Sunset:The Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association (MHAA) holds public star parties every month at Lake Taghkanic State Park on the Friday before a new moon (with Saturday as a back-up in case of bad weather). Anyone is welcome to attend, but it is a requirement that participants RSVP in advance and provide the license number, make, and model of the vehicle they will use. This information is given to the Park Police to insure that only authorized visitors are in the park after closing, and is a condition of our stargazing permit.
You can RSVP for the next star party on the MHAA Meetup page.
Arrival time is close to sunset, but the sky is only just starting to get dark then. The telescope operators like to use this time to set up while they can still see what they are doing. The actual viewing gets better after Civil Dusk. You can show up any time after the arrival time and leave whenever you wish.
| Date | Arrival Time |
Civil Dusk |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 29 2024 | 4:30 PM | 16:55 EST |
| Dec 27 2024 | 4:30 PM | 17:01 EST |
| Jan 24 2025 | 5:00 PM | 17:29 EST |
| Feb 28 2025 | 5:30 PM | 18:11 EST |
| Mar 28 2025 | 7:00 PM | 19:44 EDT |
| Apr 25 2025 | 7:30 PM | 20:17 EDT |
| May 23 2025 | 8:00 PM | 20:49 EDT |
| Jun 20 2025 | 8:30 PM | 21:08 EDT |
| Jul 25 2025 | 8:30 PM | 20:53 EDT |
Astronomers prefer dim red lights to white lights, because dim red light helps preserve night vision. This can make all the difference between seeing or not seeing a very faint target.
If you arrive after dark, please dim your lights and try to drive and park so that your lights won't be pointed at the telescopes. The same applies when leaving. We are in a big parking lot, so you should be able to arrange your turns so that your car's lights never point toward the crowd.
You can easily convert a flashlight for use at a star party by covering the lens with red tape for repairing automobile tail lights, which you can get at any auto parts store. You will probably need two layers, but even one is helpful. You can also use red plastic tape, like electrician's tape, and you can even get 2" wide rolls at many hardware stores. One layer should be enough.
Also, please avoid flash photography whenever possible.
SUNY New Paltz
SUNY New Paltz
Stellarium is software which can show you the night sky at any time from any place on the surface of the Earth (and even some planets). It's used in the John R. Kirk Planetarium at SUNY New Paltz, and in other planetariums around the world, but you can also run it on your own computer. It is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can get Stellarium from http://stellarium.org.
Stellarium can be customized to display a 'landscape' around the horizon, which can help you get oriented and show you what parts of the sky might be blocked by terrain or trees. This screen-shot is an example for Lake Taghkanic:
You can download a custom landscape for Lake Taghkanic State Park and other nearby locations. Installation is straighforward - just follow these easy instructions.
There are also versions of Stellarium for iOS and Android devices (see above). While Stellarium itself is open-source software, these apps are not free; paying for them rewards the developers for porting the software to mobile platforms.
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