Oregon
Star Party History Main Page
Osp '88, '89, '90, and
'91 were held on Steens Mountain in extreme Southeastern Oregon,
one of the most remote and darkest sky locations in the entire
United States! "Visibility" at Steens ranks among the
highest still left in the United States (see page bottom for facts)!..... Steens Mountain rises in
Harney County, near the Nevada border...
From 1992 onward, we have held OSP
in the Ochoco Mountains near Prineville, Oregon, not nearly so
high and remote, but still very dark skies.
To the left is the first
official OSP Group Photo. It is from the 1989 event. We were tiny
and intimate back then.....Our 1989 Group Photo shows 11 Stalwart
Astro parents and kids relaxing at our observing site, a 7,400
ft high dry lake bed near Fish Lake.......... OSP Director Chuck
and his wife Judy are on the far right. Author's Son Russ is on
the far left. The OSP Committee members at that time were only
four: myself, Chuck, Judy, and Candace. Find pictures of OSP 88
on the next
page....For a complete
story on "Big
Red," the classy
Coulter 10-inch Dob seen on the picture's left side,click here. Click here to see some classic OSP labels on Big Red!
............
Typical OSP late afternoon temperature and humidity are ideal!
Your optics stay dry at our 5,000 ft. site in the Ochoco Mountains
of Central Oregon! Sunburn Risk at OSP is high even though we
typically hold our event a full two months after Summer Solistice....
2006 UVB readings at OSP included 356 at solar zenith on Saturday,
and already a strong 261 by 10:30am in the morning on Sunday.
For comparison, the zenith reading on Monday in Canby (near Portland)
was a full 100 points lower, at only 255. For a full discussion
of UVB levels and research in Oregon, click here.
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my Steens Mountain/Alvord Desert pages
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Page
last revised 12/04/2007
"Visibility"
Lovers of the out-of-doors
delight in distant panoramas, but many have noticed with disappointment
that days with crisp, clean air and fine distant panoramas are
rarer and rarer all across the U.S...... historical accounts of
early Oregon often mention the pleasing views of very distant
mountain peaks available even from within the lowlands of the
Willamette Valley, while early mountaineer's accounts mention
feats of distant vision that astound the climbers of today, and
which may never be rivalled again...... A good example are reports
from such high points in Central Oregon as Paulina Peak that the major peaks from Oregon, California and
Washington were all visible at one time, the minimum distance
involved being 180 miles from 8,000 ft. Paulina Peak to 14,000
ft. Mt.
Shasta in California,
and 160 miles to 12,000 ft. Mt.
Adams in Washington.
(see below)
"Typical visual range
in the eastern U.S. is 15 to 30 miles, or about one-third of what
it would be without human caused air pollution. In the West, the
typical visual range is 60 to 90 miles, or about one-half of the
visual range under natural conditions. Haze diminishes the natural
visual range.
Haze is caused by fine particles
that scatter and absorb light before it reaches the observer.
As the number of fine particles increases, more light is absorbed
and scattered, resulting in less clarity, color, and visual range."
Source: Official Dept. of Agriculture Site: http://www.fsvisimages.com/viscause.html