Winter Star Party 2024, Scout Key FL
I decided to skip the first day of the star party because the forecast predicted rain for most of Monday into Monday night. No fun setting up in the rain!. I arrived about 11 a.m. Tuesday. My spot that I selected last year was open so I grabbed that. Tuesday night was actually a decent night for astrophotography but my generator quit after only several hours. Actually it ran out of gas because I had to run it on full choke to keep it going. The next day I spent a good deal of time trying to clean the carborator. It was a pain to get at but I did finally get it pulled out, taken apart and cleaned. Wednesday night I got about 4-5 hours of imaging before the clouds rolled in. Thursday and Friday nights weren’t too good but I managed a few hours each night. Saturday night was clear all night but a bit windy. I imaged the whole night. As I have done most years at the star party I visited the No Name Pub on Big Pine Key and Keys Fisheries in Marathon. Overall the 2024 WSP was okay. I was again dissapointed in the number of vendors – there were more than 2023 but not like pre-covid years. I think the attendance this year was close to 250. Below are pictures that I took while at the 2024 star party.
View from the far northeast end of the Girl Scout camp. Looking west.
View of the shower and bathroom facilies (top floor) at the Boy Scout camp. The open area below the facilities (yellow building) is where the talks were held during the day.