2025 Winter Star Party

January 27th - February 2nd, 2025

PLEASE NOTE BELOW, VERY IMPORTANT CHANGE TO THE GLAM TENTS.

Have a look at this blog post from AstroBackYard.
Astrophotographers and social media influencers both, Trevor Jones and Ashley Northcotte made the trip to WSP for the first time.
What follows are the details of thier experience with us and we thank them for the kind words.

Winter Star Party

Registration will open on or about October 1st, 2024.
Don't forget the dates, January 27th to February 2st 2025.

See you next year!

Registration
Scroll down near the bottom of the registration page for the registration form or click the link below:

Welcome back!!
Here at Southern Cross, we are very excited to welcome you back to one of the premiere star parties on the planet.
Planning is underway and we will update this page regularly.

As usual, we will have an excellent lineup of speakers and a few activities for you to participate in and enjoy. Along with the Beachwalk and Laser Tour, we will
once again have SCAS member, and commercial pilot, Martin Caminos returning to present his evening talk: An Introduction to Celestial Navigation.
This year he will be adding 1 or 2 more sessions to take a deep dive into demonstrating how to operate a sextant and its use in navigating the earth by the stars.

We will have our normal lineup of vendors including Explore Scientific, Celestron, and TeleVue to name a few.

Everything has remained essentially the same at both camps. Rustic camping with no facilities or power at Wesumkee. 
The Boys Scouts did erect a new bunk house for staff but it has no impact on the star party. All facilities remain on Camp Sawyer.
More details are below.

The information that follows is essentially the same as last year but we leave it as such for our new guests who have never been to the star party.
This Page will be updated continually.

KITCHEN THIRTEEN 33 IS BACK!

Michelle, G.C, and the gang from Mickie's Kitchen had their "Swan Song" in 2024. It's retirement time for our brave crew who has gone where no one has gone before for us for 20 years.
Southern Cross and Winter Star Party thank G.C. and Michelle for their many years of service and wish them a peaceful, star-studded retirement.

If you were with us in 2023, you will remember our new food vendor, KITCHEN 1333.
They will once again be bringing us their excelllent line up of culinary delights.

Menu and pre orders

Kitchen Thirteen 33

Entry to the grounds

We will open the gates at 10 AM on Monday, January 27th, as we did last year. We think that it works out well for everyone with an extra 2 hours on the field to get set up. The RV's will be given an arrival time beginning at 7 AM, please don't block the entrance gate at Wesumkee. If you are camping on Sawyer, you will be able to line up at 7 am as well. We will bring as many cars as possible into the driveway to get you off the road. There will be staff members there to help make this orderly. Your cooperation is appreciated. Stay tuned for any further announcements.

As with last year and moving forward, there will be
no ticket or camping fees for your children under 16.

Post Storm Update:

This is where we will post any storm information if it impacts the campsites.

Post Star Party Update:

If you attended last year's star party, you know the condition was good and we expecting to be able to see the same conditions this year..

We have not had our first visual inspection this year.
When we do, this is were you will find that information. So Stay tuned................

COVID Announcement

Dear WSP Attendee,

Some of you may be concerned about COVID and whether we will enforce masks and ask for proof of vaccination. We are not in the position to enforce either masks or vaccinations. We ask that you observe all state and federal protocols with regard to Covid-19 and its variants. We do expect our attendees to be mindful of each other and respect their decision about whether they are vaccinated and/or decide on wearing a mask. We are here to enjoy looking at our favorite southern celestial objects like we have been doing for the past 39 years!

The Winter Star Party is famous for the "steady air" over that portion of the keys.
Borrtle 3 skies with an average SQM of 21.76 are a treat for astrophotographers and observers alike.  Bortle Dark-Sky Scale
Click anywhere in the map to see the sky conditions. Light Pollution Map

Sunny days in the 70s and cool, calm nights in the 60s makes for a wonderful experience under the stars.
Take a look at the local weather on Big Pine Key

You will receive the details of your arrival time along with your tickets. We will again reach out to the church in Big Pine to see if you can use their parking lot for your RVs on Sunday night.
Your parking arrangement will be with the church staff. The number to the church is 305-872-2470.  Ask for Geri.

Now for a little about the 2 camps.........

Camp Wesumkee

Since 2017, when Hurricane Irma struck and destroyed Camp Wesumkee, the Girl Scouts have made no attempts at restoring the facility.
It is rustic camping, with only Port-o-Lets. There is no power on the Girl Scout camp except for the vendor area and only for the vendors and Mickie's Kitchen.
We have changed our procedures to now allow small, quiet (below 65 decibels) generators to run 24 hrs. a day for electricity.


Parking is the same as always, you may park in proximity to your campsite as long as you are not setting your equipment up on the berm. For all you first-timers, the "berm" is an area adjacent to the shoreline where we only allow telescopes to be set up so everyone behind the berm can enjoy the southeastern horizon. There is no vehicle traffic allowed after 7 pm and all vehicles parked near the berm must be removed by the same time.
Our Vendor area will be here as well, straight across from Mickie's Kitchen as always. We are expecting reps from Celestron, TeleVue, Disc Mounts, and Starlight Instruments, just to name a few.
Mickie's Kitchen is our food vendor. No trip to the Winter Star Party can be complete without a 3 am brownie and hot chocolate from Mickie's kitchen............... I can taste it already!

Camp Sawyer

Camp Sawyer belongs to the Boy Scouts. All bathroom and shower facilities are on Sawyer. 10 private showers and 10 private stalls.
Access from one camp to the other is thru a pass on the west end of Wesumkee. There is no vehicle traffic permitted on the pass or on Camp Sawyer, so you must walk to the showers.
During the day you may also drive to Sawyer on the highway but please remember that if you go late afternoon, give yourself enough time to get back to the park on Wesumkee before 7 pm
otherwise, you will have to leave your car on the road.

As advertised, the Glam Tents are on Sawyer. Tent camping available on Camp Sawyer is in limited numbers and we only have enough parking spaces to accommodate 75 cars, Glamping or tenting. Once that number is reached Camp Sawyer will be turned off from the registration system and we will accept no more requests there. To accommodate that many cars, no trailers or RVs are allowed on Sawyer. Sawyer will also have electricity throughout the camp thru extension cords and plug stations. Be aware that you should have a 100-foot extension cord with you to be sure you are within reach of a plug.
 

We will be using the same configuration of the Glam Tents as last year.  Some will have 3 sets of metal bunk beds in the main room and 2 sets 
in the smaller side room and some will have 2 larger beds in the main room with the 2 sets of bunk beds in the small room.
Each person will occupy one set of bunk beds. You will sleep in the lower bunk and stow your gear in the upper bunk.

The Speaker presentations will be on Sawyer in an open-air venue. We are planning to have between 6 & 9 speakers this year. The finalized list will be available below  

Some of you have asked us for an aerial map of Camp Sawyer so that you can see the numbers on the glam tents. Please go to the following link. The tents are numbered one through 11 from left to right. Only tents one through nine are available for registrants.

https://satellites.pro/USA_map#24.648173,-81.312974,18

Speakers

The Speaker presentations will be on Sawyer in an open-air venue. We are planning to have 9 speakers this year.

Daily Schedule 2025

Tuesday 1/28
12-1:30 John O'Neil New products in Solar Observation & Imaging
2:00 - 3:00?  John Panek Roman Space Telescope
6:00 – 8:PM   Martin Caminos Celestial Navigation Part I

Wednesday 1/29
10AM Beach Walk with Jay Elliot
12:30 – 2:30 Jon Talbot Pixinsight Latest Updates
3:00-4:00 Ice Cream Social
6:00 – 7:30PM Mike Lockwood Hands on Night Vision

Thursday 1/30
1 – 2 PM Richard Wright TBD
2 – 3 PM Charlie Warren TBD
6:00 – 8:PM   Martin Caminos Celestial Navigation Part II

Vendors

This list will be updated as conformations come in.

Explore Scientific
Starfield Optics
Pentax Eyepieces

Manufacturers

This list will be updated as conformations come in.

Pegaus Astro
Simulation Curriculum
 

Cha-Ching

As always, we will have some fantastic door prizes to give away on Friday. 
Please remember that you must be present at the drawing on Friday morning to be eligable to win a prize.

Please be reminded that on Sunday Feb. 11th, all camp sites and vehicles must be off of both camps by 10 AM.

Have a look at the 2023 star party here.....................
2023 Winter Star Party Recap


Stay tuned for further information.

If there is anything you need to discuss with us or issues with your registration please send an email to wsp@scas.org
Thank you again for your patronage and please stay safe and healthy.

2025 WSP Registration