The 2020 Quadrantids Meteor Shower Party took place January 3rd through 5th, 2020, at our Death Valley Stargazing Camp located just outside the national park boundary in Panamint Valley. Approximately sixty attendees were present for the event, which featured dark desert skies, astronomy lectures from Dr. Cameron Hummels of Caltech, and nighttime photography workshops from Chris Ewen Crosby and Samuel Kahn. Also featured was a huge 14” Meade LX850 telescope along with a SHIFTPOD XL warming hut, both pictured above.

Some attendees stayed in our furnished SHIFTPODs, while others brought their own tents/RVs/camper vans/etc. The Death Valley Stargazing Camp is 80 acres of private land surrounded by BLM land, thus making for vast, scenic surroundings, and very dark skies.

Dr. Cameron Hummels from Caltech specializes in using astrophysics to create computer simulations of galaxies and the Universe as a whole in motion. His lectures were not only informative, but extremely visually pleasing! Simulations included diving deep into galaxies to see their inner formations, and attendees were treated to an extended Q&A session after each talk to satisfy inquiring minds.

Chris Ewen Crosby (IG: @cecphotos) and Samuel Kahn (IG: @alpineastro) offered their nighttime photography expertise to anyone who was interested, and there were indeed many photographers in attendance. A laid-back photography contest featuring shots from on-site - hardly edited or even not at all - was held, and many of us were up at all hours of the night… capturing the night, peering through telescopes, and enjoying the warming hut. The sky conditions were intermittently partly-cloudy, and the meteor activity was rather low, although not non-existent. Below is a meteor shot captured by attendee Ken Atwood.

Meade Instruments kindly donated a pair of stargazing binoculars as well as a StarPro AZ telescope to be given away as the prize for the photo contest. The winner would go on to chose the telescope, and the binoculars were given away at random to the remaining guests. Below are the five images which were entered into the contest, with the last being the winner — Rich Lenke (IG: @richlenke)!

Overall the event was a huge success, and although the current situation with COVID-19 has thrown all future star parties into a mystery bag for the time being, there will indeed be more to come! We leave you with more images from attendees and the event. Stay tuned for the next star party!