Reservoir, 27 miles south of Valentine, Nebraska, August 2-9, 1997.
In its first three years, NSP has established itself as the
premier summer dark-skies star party. Last year, 250
participants observed under the excellent skies at Merritt
and many families enjoyed numerous daytime activities.
This year over 300 attended, and there were over 100
telescopes of all sizes.
One of the premier attractions of NSP is the fantastic naked-eye view
of the summer Milky Way. Though observers will obviously spend long nights
at the eyepiece, expect to spend as much time just looking up in awe at
the fantastic summer sky. The NSP Milky Way truly looks
like an edge-on spiral galaxy and the central bulge is clearly visible.
Limiting magnitude is 7.5+ with some observers breaking 8th magnitude
naked eye!!
1997 Programs and Speakers Were:
Vic Winter (Comet Hale-Bopp),
Brenda Culbertson (Binocular Activities
for AmateurAstronomers),
Dave Scherping (Name that Object),
Bob Linderholm (Hunting for Minor Planets),
Richard Wilds (Observing Occultations)...and
more!