Welcome to The Southern Skies Star Party

It won't take you long to realize that the Southern Skies Star Party is unlike any star party that you have ever attended.

Observing conditions:
Chances are good that as you set up a telescope in the observing area beside the royal blue waters of Lake Titicaca at 12,300 feet it will be the highest altitude star party of your life. With two-thirds of the Earth's atmosphere below you it doesn't take long to realize that most of the things that give you bad seeing are also below you. Add to the mix, a large body of water of the world’s highest navigable lake to stabilize temperatures; the seeing, transparency and stability can be outstanding. June falls in the Bolivian Alto Plano dry season so dew and rain are at a minimum. It's also wintertime in the southern hemisphere and at 12,300 feet it can get cold. Because we are located at 16-degrees south, nighttime temperatures range usually in the middle 30's(f). Daytime highs can easily reach into the 60's or 70's under sunny skies.

Typical Star Party Attendees:
The Southern Skies Star Party, while still primarily based on observing and photographing the southern skies, is designed to offer a wide variety of activities for everyone. You need not be an astronomer at all to attend. Each year about half of the people attending are casual observers at best. Skill and experience levels vary from seasoned expert to novice and generally everyone enjoys sharing their astronomical experiences. General Star Party etiquette is in place for the entire week, with a ban on white lights after dark. Guests should bring their red flashlights and use them at all times. After almost a decade of having astronomers stay at the Inca Utama the staff has, learned that we like it dark at night. An ongoing effort to educate the people of the area about light pollution is a continuing affair. You will enjoy photographing the environment around you to try and capture look and feeling of the Southern Skies Star Party. The wonderful people of the region, the great places to visit provide rich environment to explore - besides observing the southern sky.

For a Good Cause:

Each year, we ask our guests to include in excess space of their luggage, school supplies for the children at the local schools. We have officially adopted the local schools and have been doing our best to help them out in many ways. To date the Foundation and SSSP guests have donated more than a ton of school supplies, six laptop computers, a desktop computer system, two 4 inch dob telescopes, countless planispheres, charts and other astronomy related equipment and supplies. Medical and dental supplies are also in very short supply and always welcome.

In 2002 we discovered that the Bolivian National Observatory, which has some outstanding University-grade telescopes, was so ill equipped and under-funded that amateurs here in the United States have better equipment. The StarGarden Foundation and the SSSP have now adopted the Observatories at Tarija and will be raising funds and gathering equipment to help them out. They have wonderful Zeiss telescopes, but no ccd cameras, no film cameras, no computers or laptops. Eyepieces and accessories are in short supply as well. Even if you can't attend the SSSP and would like to help, let us know!

Star Party Activities:
This year we are pleased to have a wide variety of astronomy activities. In 2004 we will have a very special SSSP guest speaker... Dr. Michael Reynolds, PhD. More details on his talk to come.

Altitude Safety:
Because the SSSP takes place at an unusually high altitude your safety is our number-one priority. We ask that people with breathing or serious cardiovascular conditions consult their doctor before considering the trip. So far observers have ranged in age from eight years old to "a few years over 80". The SSSP always secures the services of Dr. Stanley Blanco to watch over our group. He is on 24-hour call to aid us in any and all ailments that might occur. Altitude sickness is very serious and we treat it as such. A variety of things can be done to make your stay at high altitude more enjoyable.

The Grounds and Facilities:
The grounds of the Unca Utama Hotel have a number of unique attractions and offer a variety of activities without even leaving the area. -The observing area is located between the Lake and the hotel dining room, which is converted into a warm room with heaters after dark, for a quick warm-up, along with hot tea, coffee and light snacks every night. The observing area is secure and all telescopes and equipment can be left in place from night to night so there is no need to "tear down" each night. Power is available, both 220 and 110. Batteries are recommended for an un-interrupted power source.

The "house scopes" a StarMaster 22-inch dob and a 10-inch StarMaster dob will be in the observing area for all to use. A Meade LX-200 10 inch, f10 was added to the observing scopes that live at the lake. The Alapacha Observatory, built for the Total Solar Eclipse of 1994, will also be open business. During the week Bolivian astronomer Manuel De La Torre will present a talk at the Alapacha on the local Aymara Indian astronomy.

Meals:
Dinner is usually served early to allow people time to prepare for an evening of stargazing. With sunset shortly after 5 p.m. and a short winter twilight, it is usually dark enough to observe by 6:30 p.m. For dining ease, signup sheets will be available for guests to pre-order their dinner from the menu earlier in the day. Cusine is truly 5-star with many US styled beef, chicken and local salmon/trout dishes to chose from. Breakfast will be fresh bread, eggs and juice – and hot cereal if you like. Bottled water is provided daily to your room and a drink included at dinner. Other drinks can be purchased at from the maitre de or in the Cantina at night. The Cantina is usually only open on cloudy nights or by request.

Optional Daytime Activities & Daytrips:
Sign-up sheets will also be posted at the front desk for all the optional Day Trips. Most tours are moderately priced and range from $35 USD to $125 USD. Some examples include: The Tiwanacu Underground Sun Temple, Kala Uta Incan Isle of the Dead, Fossil-hunting, Chacaltaya Cosmic Ray Laboratory, Glacier Hike, Lake Panorama bus tour, etc… The extensive daylong Hydrofoil tour of the lake includes the Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun). Day Trips are paid for at the time of check-out via cash or MC/Visa/AmEx. Some guests may choose to take a day trip every day, while others would rather stay up all night and observe and sleep during the day. The option is all yours. There is a hiking trail behind the hotel that winds into the foothills and ends with a beautiful view of the Andes that is safe and free. Many may also want to wander down the road and into the local town of Huatajata. We will take just one day for an optional visit the actual city of La Paz. Here, you can see fascinating local vendors wares in rich color and diversity. Inexpensive Alpaca sweaters, enegmatic charms from the witch doctors or fantastic artisanship in works of silver and lapiz are all good souvenir bargains. Some guests chose to add-on a tour extension to nearby Machu Picchu after completing their week at SSSP. This program flies from La Paz to Cuzco and runs 6 days for an estimated $1050 per person (Price may vary).

Schedule and Itinerary
The Southern Skies Star Party is designed to make the most of favorable dark skies and tailored to make the most of your valuable time. By scheduling it from weekend to weekend, only one week of vacation time is needed! Your journey starts on Saturday with everyone meeting in Miami, Florida Saturday afternoon. The star party truly begins here where we will gather and meet for the first time to get to know one another.

Your flight to Bolivia leaves Miami just before midnight and the six-hour flight down south arrives at first light Sunday morning as the sun rises over the snow-capped Andes. The airport is actually located in a suburb of La Paz called El Alto. After clearing customs, porters carefully load your bags onto the bus and we head through the city and make our way out to Lake Titicaca by motor coach. After checking into the Inca Utama and a hearty breakfast it time to take it easy and drink in the surroundings. Taking it easy and drinking plenty of water is a necessity for acclimating to the altitude. Some may want to start setting up their equipment or just enjoy the peace and quiet.

After a week of stargazing and activities we generally begin packing on Friday evening in preparation for the trip home. The bus leaves about 4 a.m. for the ride to the airport and one last sleepy look at the southern morning skies. Due to the altitude, airplanes make a short hop over the Andes at sunrise to the jungle city of Santa Cruz. After a full load of fuel is added, we are off to Miami and then homeward bound.

Flight details are as follows:
Group flight schedule is typically aboard American Airlines flight 922 from Miami (MIA) to La Paz, Bolivia (LPB) which departs Miami on Saturday evening, arriving the next morning (sunday). The group

If you have any questions about the Southern Skies Star Party please email us at comments@icstars.com or call SSSP Director Jen Winter at 660-747-7782 (2 p.m. to 8 p.m. CST).

	*(based on airfares at time of publishing. Air pricing subject to change until time of booking)*
	2008 Southern Skies group continued with Jen Winter leading her 9th SSSP event. Slide Shows from SSSP 2008