Here we are at the Golden State Star Party, 2015. This is looking out to Fred's spot out in the Oort Cloud. Fred is setting up his shade.

Looking out to Big Valley from Fred's spot.

Fred, Al, John and I came a day early to help with the set-up activities for GSSP this year. There were only a handful of people there that first day. A real treat to be there with just a few other folks. This was pretty much the view for the entire field.

Here's Fred talking to a couple of fellow astronomers.

John getting his site ready to rock and roll.

Al's spot with most of the basic set-up done. Just a couple of telescopes to go and he'll be ready to roll.

Al taking a break from the heat. Most of the week it was in the high 80s and low 90s. Add to that the fact that we're at about 4200' and you get typical high desert weather. Hot, dry and dusty. Al is pointing to his trailer to check out his new gear.

This year Al put a lot of effort into adding solar power for his equipment. He's got enough juice to power all of his gear all night long with plenty to spare. Very impressive!

Fred came down to check on us once our camp sites were finished.

Getting everything ready for around 400 people, their cars and everything else is no easy task. The GSSP committee took all of the volunteers out to the only burger joint in Adin for dinner. About 40 people completely overwhelmed the staff, but they were great dealing with the sudden arrival of a big bunch of hungry astronomers.

Here's John's tent before the shady end went up. John really went in comfort this year. Inside he was sleeping on a big, cushy queen size bed.

My distinctive orange tent and telescope set up off to the right. This year I noticed that my telescope cover (7 yrs. old) had a lot of small holes in it. This would prove to be an issue later on in the week...

Sunsets in the high desert are always just like this.

A view back toward the entry gate (the white shade tent). All of this will be entirely covered in campers and telescopes tomorrow.

The field is organized into streets named after the design of our solar system. Mercury is closest in near the entry gate and the Oort Cloud way out past Pluto.

Setting up the main public tents. First, the frame is put together and the vinyl cover is stretched over and fastened to the frame.

Once the covers are on it's time to get the legs in. Some of the volunteers lift one side while others insert the legs.

Go to the other side and repeat.

Once all four sections are up they get strapped together. The ground is so hard that a powered auger is needed to start the holes for the giant spikes that anchor the tent down. Once the stake holes are drilled it takes two guys with sledge hammers to drive 'em in. Looks like a railroad chain gang :) The winds can gust up to around 30 mph in the afternoons, so it really needs to be seriously fastened down.

Here's the finished product on the first night while Rich makes some announcements.

A nice picture of one of our amazing sunsets with my rig on the left.

One of our two Bills. Bill has been working on imaging with his DSLR.

Bill Seiler with his Hubble dobsonian.

Our current president, Jeff Gose setting up his AP900 mount and C11 OTA. Walter and Carol's trailer and camper behind.

There's Lynne getting ready to settle in with a good book. Shade is your best friend out here at GSSP.

Al (right) and I relieved Bill(center) and another fellow out at the entry gate. SCAC volunteers for one day of gate duty. Two guys at the gate for two hours all day long. This takes a big load off the GSSP Committee, letting them concentrate on other duties.

Jeff and Carol holding down the fort at the gate.

Every year Bill has a new project to work on. This year he's making some field repairs on a new version of his 3-D printer. He noticed that John didn't have an eyepiece cover on his scope, so he made one for him. It only took a couple of hours.

There's Carol building her nest in Walter's truck. Walter sleeps in his trailer next door. This year Walter let Carol get some wheel time with the trailer on the drive up from Santa Cruz.

Walter getting camp set up while Bill supervises.

Waiting for dinner on the first night. Carol, Bill, Fred, Chris and Carl.

Mr. Albaugh with one of the chuck wagon grills. The whole Albaugh clan comes out to put on a feed for around 400 people. One dinner is sponsored by the Albaugh family and one is sponsored by The Adin General Store.

This page just wouldn't be complete with a picture of me with my imaging rig.

Friday evening we had forecasts for thunderstorms. It really didn't look like we would have any weather problems until some virga started to develop just off to the west and started to move our way. We all had just enough time to either get a good cover over our gear or get it torn down and into the car. My weather cover had developed some small holes over the years, so I figured the safest course would be to get all the gear into the car. I then put a big plastic garbage bag over the mount and the weather cover over that. By the time we got everyone's gear safely covered up it was pouring pretty good.

Prior to the rain, the field had been exceptionally dry and dusty, hich meant that our cars were REALLY dusty. The rain did a pretty good job of washing the cars. It rained pretty hard for about two hours. Can't really see it here, but the rain is really coming down. A bunch of us spent the evening in John's shade cave swapping war stories and staying away from the leaks :) By the time we all got our gear covered some of us were pretty wet. The temperature was still warm so it wasn't too bad.

Even with all of the rain it was still a glorious sunset. As the thunderstorms really got going we had some serious thunder and lightning ranging from a few miles away to right overhead (which was really exciting).

The next day after all the rain, we awoke to a beautiful morning. The ground soaked up every drop of the rain and vritually everything dried out overnight. Here's John, Miguel, Jeff, Chris and Bill discussing the excitement from the night before.

Saturday evening was the annual Big Valley fundraiser BBQ. There was tri-tip to Icelandic chicken and everything in-between. My favorite is the pastry table!!! The population of Adin is 276 people, so when the astronomers all show up we more than double the local population. We pump a lot of funds into the fundraiser which goes to help fund local emergency social services. Here's Carol and Jeff chowing down :)

This year the BBQ was held in the Adin park. A very nice venue, and this year they had a great turnout. Clockwise from the front: Lynne, Jeff, Bill, John, Chris and Carol.

Here's Al, Fred, Chris and Walter.

Relaxing after stuffing ourselves silly. Carol, Bill, Ron, Annie, John and Chris.

Our last night for this year's GSSP looked pretty iffy for a while. Off to the NE there were some clouds that looked pretty wet. There was a great double rainbow that lasted about an hour.

Fortunately the weather was all off to the NE and moving that way. It turned out to be another great night of stars. Another shot of the double rainbow.

This video was taken just before the rain came. You can see the virga that turned into a two hour downpour a few minutes later.

Ron and Chris waiting for dinner.

Fred, Carl and Ron.

Al and Fred.

Jeff was holding Lynne's raffle ticket and her ticket won a nice door prize. Here's Jeff accepting for her. Carol also won a nice pair of travel binoculars. SCAC did pretty well, as always, on the door prizes.

A few minutes later Jeff's own number was called and he won a great new eyepiece. He did get a bit of good-natured heckling for going up twice.

This year we had a record number from the Santa Cruz Astronomy club. Back row: Al, Fred, Miguel, Bill, Bill, Carol, Jeff and John. Front row: Annie and Doc, Ron, Eileen, Carol and Walter, Lynne and Chris.

A nice shot of one our last susets for GSSP 2015.

John did some of his usual magic with this timed exposure of the scene to the north west. A beautiful shot!