John Reed Home Page Okie Tex Starparty

In October 1999 I had the pleasure of attending the Okie-Tex Star Party held near Kenton, OK located at the very end of the Panhandle. The photo at right shows our campsite. Several CAAS members and myself camped together and enjoyed the extremely dark, clear skies. We had some bad weather, however, with one storm bringing over 3" of rain!

The Photos:

Okie-Tex at Night: This panorama was taken with my Olympus OM-1 using a 28mm wide angle lens. I then spliced the photos together in the computer to make this nighttime panorama of the horizon and observing field. My 18" dobsonian is the tall dark silhouette right of center. Observers' red flashlights show as the vermilion streaks across the field. This is also the photo I used for my main home page banner.

Northern Star-Trails: A passing airplane just misses Polaris in this circumpolar shot. Another plane passes above. The dark skies allow long exposures without significant sky glow.

My Son Taylor and the 18" in Front of Black Mesa: Taylor is not that interested in astronomy, but when he found out that he could get an excused absence from school he decided to come along. He couldn't understand why the party was in the middle of nowhere. (When we had to stop and wait for a passing cattle drive to cross the highway we knew we were really in the wild west!). I entered the 18" in an ATM contest and won the award for best wood-working.

The Observing Field: Standing on top of the near by bluff, I got a shot of the whole observing field and the canyon in which it is situated. Black Mesa lies beyond.

Early Morning Solitude: I woke up early one morning and took a few shots of the sun on the mesa.

Chris, Beth, Thomas: Several others from our club, the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society traveled 750 miles to distant Black Mesa to participate in the starparty. Chris and Beth Lasley as well as Thomas Baskins are pictured here.

The New Mexico Landscape: A group of us Arkansas Travelers journeyed into New Mexico to the town of Clayton. This was typical scenery.

Clayton Dinosaur Trackway: So we were told, millions of years ago a volcano erupted (in fact it is still there, but now extinct) and the ash covered mud containing fresh dinosaur tracks. This ash preserved the tracks and they can still be seen today.

The Trackway: This is a view of the trackway, now compressed to rock which contains the footprints.

Dinosaur Track: One of the better tracks. Looks kind of like a duck foot!

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This page was created by John W. Reed on December 6 2000. Contact: jreed007 at centurytel dot net.

	Okie-Tex at Night: This panorama was taken with my Olympus OM-1 using a 28mm wide angle lens. I then spliced the photos together in the computer to make this nighttime panorama of the horizon and observing field. My 18" dobsonian is the tall dark silhouette right of center. Observers' red flashlights show as the vermilion streaks across the field. This is also the photo I used for my main home page banner.
	Northern Star-Trails: A passing airplane just misses Polaris in this circumpolar shot. Another plane passes above. The dark skies allow long exposures without significant sky glow.
	My Son Taylor and the 18" in Front of Black Mesa: Taylor is not that interested in astronomy, but when he found out that he could get an excused absence from school he decided to come along. He couldn't understand why the party was in the middle of nowhere. (When we had to stop and wait for a passing cattle drive to cross the highway we knew we were really in the wild west!). I entered the 18" in an ATM contest and won the award for best wood-working.
	The Observing Field: Standing on top of the near by bluff, I got a shot of the whole observing field and the canyon in which it is situated. Black Mesa lies beyond.
	Early Morning Solitude: I woke up early one morning and took a few shots of the sun on the mesa.
	Chris, Beth, Thomas: Several others from our club, the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society traveled 750 miles to distant Black Mesa to participate in the starparty. Chris and Beth Lasley as well as Thomas Baskins are pictured here.
	The New Mexico Landscape: A group of us Arkansas Travelers journeyed into New Mexico to the town of Clayton. This was typical scenery.
	Clayton Dinosaur Trackway: So we were told, millions of years ago a volcano erupted (in fact it is still there, but now extinct) and the ash covered mud containing fresh dinosaur tracks. This ash preserved the tracks and they can still be seen today.
	The Trackway: This is a view of the trackway, now compressed to rock which contains the footprints.
	Dinosaur Track: One of the better tracks. Looks kind of like a duck foot!