Scenes from a Star Party

Amateur astronomers like nothing more than spending time under a dark night sky with a field of friends.

Star parties are a popular part of the hobby of amateur astronomy. They’re chances for stargazers to get under dark skies and meet up with others who love the night sky.

Each year I attend the biggest such event in my area in western Canada, the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party. It usually attracts about 320 sky lovers to the very dark skies of southwest Saskatchewan.

The label marks the spot for the Party, in the Cypress Hills, and in the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, that straddles the border of Saskatchewan and Alberta. As per its name, the SSSP is held on the Saskatchewan side of the Park, in the Centre Block south of Maple Creek. (A complementary Southern Alberta Star Party is held on the Alberta side of the Cypress Hills, in September. I’ll be there!)

As the map shows, the Cypress Hills are far from any light pollution and offer “Bortle 2-class” skies — 1 being the darkest, and 9 being downtown Las Vegas!

In fact, the Park is a Dark Sky Preserve, a designation awarded in 2004. Parks are increasingly aware of their role in not only conserving flora, fauna, and historical sites, but also the increasingly threatened night sky. As the saying goes, “Half the Park is after dark!”

The Dark Sky Preserve designation, and efforts to refit what lighting is in the Park to “dark-sky friendly” fixtures, came about as a direct result of the Park, and Star Party, being the site of a comet discovery three years earlier.

It was at the Star Party in August 2001 that Regina amateur astronomer Vance Petriew discovered a comet, an observing feat that merits a comet being named for the discoverer.

This year, a new sign and plaque were unveiled commemorating the discovery, replacing a cairn that had fallen into disrepair over 20 years. Here is the unveiling —

This was a fine event with all the star party folks in attendance, many of whom were there in 2001! — including the now adult daughters of the Petriew family.

Click on the images below to bring the photos up full screen.

While that was a highlight of the week, the real show was the sky above. The Milky Way was on display in a sky clearer and darker than we had seen it for many years. No clouds, no smoke, and little dew and bugs! The Cypress Hills are a mecca for stargazing!

A popular part of this star party, as it is at many such events, is a laser-guided tour of naked-eye sights, where a guide points out the constellation patterns, and highlights objects that need nothing more than binoculars to see well.

In a slide show below, astronomer Ron Waldron from Saskatoon conducts the 2025 Friday night “star walk.” It’s BYOB — Bring Your Own Binoculars!

While participants stay up until the wee hours to enjoy all that the sky has to offer, every star party offers a range of daytime activities (but not happening too early!). Star parties are great places to see fields of telescopes of every description. This year the program included a formal “show-and-shine” tour of some notable gear for all to admire. And there’s the ever-popular swap meet with bargains on offer.

We enjoyed several talks on a range of astronomy topics, not just stargazing, but also the latest in science research. We heard about a satellite being built in Saskatchewan by U of S and U of R students, and about how the Mars Perseverance rover collects samples, in a talk from one of the researchers involved with the NASA mission.

And of course there were awards and door prizes to be won! Always to a capacity crowd at the Cypress Resort conference room.

It was a superb 4 days of astronomy and stargazing. If you are in the area, I highly recommend attending. Next year’s SSSP will be August 12 to 15 inclusive — it’s always at New Moon. The website is here but won’t be updated for the 2026 event details until next year.

I won’t be there in 2026, as August 12 is the date of the next total eclipse of the Sun, which I discuss in my previous blog. I plan to be in Spain!

But I highly recommend attending in 2026. As most people do, you may find yourself enjoying the weekend so much you make it an annual event in your calendar. I shall miss my annual August ritual of the SSSP in 2026 and in 2027 — there’s an eclipse that August, too!

But 2025 was certainly a fine year to enjoy all that the Cypress Hills have to offer under the stars.

— Alan, September 6, 2025 / AmazingSky.com