Southern Milky Way
1996 Southern Skies Star Party
Copyright by Fred Espenak. All rights reserved.
In June of 1996, I attended the first annual Southern Skies Star Party organized by Ken Willcox. This event is held in Bolivia along the shores of Lake Titicaca (12,500 feet). At that elevation, the southern skies are fabulously dark. Our group of about 22 people stayed at the Inca Ultama Hotel which afforded a large protected area to set up our telescopes for the week.
A detailed description of the 1996 Southern Skies Star Party was written by Ken Willcox.
Below is a sampling of photographs I took through a range of lenses from 24mm to 500mm. Special thanks to Vic Winter for loaning me his 85mm and 180mm Nikkors!
All photos are ©1996 by Fred Espenak.
Photos of the 1996 Southern Skies Star Party
- Inca Utama Hotel (jpg, 63 Kbyte)
During the Southern Skies Star Party, our group stays at the Inca Utama Hotel located on the southeast shore of Lake Titicaca.
- Aerial view of the 1996 SSSP and Lake Titicaca (jpg, 74 Kbyte)
- Llamas at the shore of Lake Titicaca (jpg, 84 Kbyte)
- Group photo at the 1996 SSSP (jpg, 86 Kbyte)
- Ken Willcox and Vic Winter columate the 10 inch dobsonian (jpg, 84 Kbyte)
This telescope permanently resides at the Inca Utama Hotel and is available for everyone's use during the Southern Skies Star Party.
- Michael Stecker and his 6 inch AstroPhysics refractor (jpg, 77 Kbyte)
Stecker won the prize for most luggage to the Southern Skies Star Party with this fantastic telescope. Many of Michael's photos have appeared in "Sky & Telescope" and "Astronomy" magazines.
- William and Anita Drezden with their 70mm Pronto refractor (jpg, 56 Kbyte)
You don't need lots of aperture to get great views of the southern skies!
- SSSP organizer Ken Willcox with his Celestron 8 SCT (jpg, 63 Kbyte)
Ken found the fork mount of SCT's to be very awkward to use at the -60 to -80 degree declination of many southern targets.
- Vic Winter with his very portable equatorial mount (jpg, 70 Kbyte)
- Fred Espenak and his Celestron 70mm Florite refractor (jpg, 70 Kbyte)
This instrument was used to guide all the piggybacked astrophotos on this page.
- Ken Willcox paddles a reed boat on Lake Titicaca! (jpg, 63 Kbyte)
We're going to have to start calling this guy "Indiana Willcox"!
Astrophotophotography During the 1996 Southern Skies Star Party
- Wide Field Milky Way from Sagittarius through Centaurus (jpg, 88 Kbyte)
16mm f/2.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 40 minutes @ f2.8
- Milky Way from Aquila to Sagittarius (jpg, 105 Kbyte)
50mm f/1.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f2.8
- Cenrtal bulge of the Milky Way Galaxy (jpg, 88 Kbyte)
24mm f/2.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f3.5
- Milky Way through northern Sagittarius (jpg, 102 Kbyte)
105mm f/2.5 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 20 minutes @ f2.8
- Star Clouds in Sagittarius (jpg, 93 Kbyte)
50mm f/1.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f2.8
- Heart of the Milky Way trough Sagittarius (jpg, 98 Kbyte)
85mm f/2 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 20 minutes @ f2.8
- M8 and western Sagittarius (jpg, 98 Kbyte)
180mm f/2.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 20 minutes @ f2.8
- Milky Way through Sagittarius and Scorpius (jpg, 102 Kbyte)
50mm f/1.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f2.8
- M7 star cluster and the scorpion's tail (jpg, 95 Kbyte)
105mm f/2.5 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 20 minutes @ f2.8
- Scorpius and Milky Way Star Clouds (jpg, 102 Kbyte)
50mm f/1.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f2.8
- Super Wide Field Milky Way - Sagittarius through Carina (jpg, 70 Kbyte)
16mm f/2.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f2.8
- Centaurus, Crux and Carina (jpg, 112 Kbyte)
50mm f/1.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f2.8
- Centaurus and Crux (jpg, 112 Kbyte)
85mm f/2 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f2.8
- Southern Cross and Coal Sack (jpg, 119 Kbyte)
105mm f/2.5 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 20 minutes @ f2.8
- Southern Cross Close-Up (jpg, 112 Kbyte)
180mm f/2.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 20 minutes @ f2.8
- Southern Cross and Eta Carina Nebula (jpg, 109 Kbyte)
105mm f/2.5 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 20 minutes @ f2.8
- Cabana and Star Trails Over Lake Titicaca (jpg, 56 Kbyte)
24mm f/2.8 Nikkor, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f3.5
For more photo's and information about the 1996 Southern Skies Star Party as well as many wonderful images of Bolivia, see Vic Winter's SSSP'96 Web Page.
The second Southern Skies Star Party was held in June 1997. Astrophotos are online at Espenak's SSSP'97 Photo Gallery.
For more information and photos, see Southern Skies Star Party.
Southern Sky Astrophotography Links
Astronomy Photograph Links
Copyright Notice
All photographs, text and web pages are © Copyright 2007 by Fred Espenak, unless otherwise noted.
All rights reserved. They may not be reproduced, published, copied or transmitted in any form, including electronically on the Internet or WWW, without written permission of the author.
The photos have been digitally watermarked.
The photographs may be licensed for commercial, editorial, and educational use.
Contact Espenak (at MrEclipse) for photo use in print, web, video, CD and all other media.
WebMaster: MrEclipse
Last revised: 2008 Feb 10
