Close Encounter.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

It's 10 p.m. atop College Hill Reservoir, but hundreds of people are milling about in the dark. Some wait in a line 60 people deep for a chance to view Mars in a 20-inch telescope. Others gather around a woman wielding a green laser-pointer that appears to reach the very stars she identifies overhead.

"That's ygnus, the swan," explains Jean Grendler, president of the Eugene Astronomical Society. "It's part of what we call the Northern Cross because it's shaped like a cross - this constellation sits straight up in the Northwest sky on Christmas Eve."

Before the evening ends, at least 1,000 people will attend this Mars Gaze, convened by the Eugene Astronomical Society to observe the Red Planet's closest pass to Earth in 60,000 years.

The turnout is no anomaly. The society often draws hundreds to its public stargazing events, and has topped the 1,000 mark several times now, says Grendler, a retired orthotics maker.

With technology driving down the price of high-powered telescopes, amateur astronomy is a hot hobby across North America - even in cloudy Oregon.

Over the Labor Day weekend, another 1,000 people traveled to a remote Ochoco National Forest campground an hour east of Prineville for the Oregon Star Party.

For 10 years running, this primitive campground at Indian Trail Spring has become a temporary celestial city each August. Now sponsored by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the yearly gathering started 10 years ago when a group of young Portland astronomers decided to seek better viewing than that afforded by light-polluted urban skies.

This year, hundreds of telescopes stood silhouetted against the blotchy brightness of the Milky Way. Nearby stood tents and RVs, rows of port-a-potties - even food and souvenir vendors, including a coffee stand still doing a brisk business at 2 a.m. as stargazers stoked themselves with triple lattes for the last hours of night. To protect that precious blackness, even wee-hours brewing was done under red-gel lights.

Voices carry far in the backcountry stillness, yielding snippets of star talk that seem redundant (`globular clusters') or even oxymoronic (`I see two distinct smudges!').

Among the Star Party veterans is Cottage Grove resident Mel Bartels, who hauled his 8-foot, 20-inch-mirror "Dobsonian" scope across the desert. With a light-gathering power 4,000 times greater than the human eye, such telescopes have revolutionized amateur astronomy, says Bartels, a computer systems director for Weyer- haeuser.

Inventor John Dobson had a mission to show people the cosmos, explains Bartels, who had an astroid named in his honor because of his own work assisting amateurs around the world.

"Dobson wanted a big, big aperture so the images were bright," he says. ` `No tiny fuzzies' was his motto.'

Seeing the polar cap

The chance to see closer-than-ever Mars as more than a tiny fuzzy was clearly the big draw at College Hill Reservoir, where some 20 telescopes focused on the Red Planet and other celestial sights.

Former NASA optical physicist Leonard Ball sums up the Martian motivation: "Best chance to see it in 60,000 years," says Ball, now a Eugene retiree. "Silly not to take advantage of it."

But with his space agency background, he is the exception among attendees of the Eugene Astronomical Society event.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy astronomy," says Grendler, who has no college degree.

Indeed, the night's youngest sky-watcher has to be held up to Bartels' eyepiece by her mother.

Two-year-old Finn Angelina Mifsud, still wide awake at 10:30 p.m., gazes soberly for several seconds, then proclaims, "Mars!"

"Having any luck with the polar cap?" Bartels asks Finn's mom, Christy Mifsud, as she peers into the scope a few minutes later. "You might have to let your eye settle down for a minute."

"I see it!" she says, describing "a brighter, white spot on a glowing orange ball."

Nearby, Saul Wold's scope sits at such a kid-friendly level, he has to kneel to sight it. He encourages a hands-on approach with even the smallest of viewers.

"You can focus it right here," he says, helping a small, chubby hand twist the knob. "Don't move it too much, though, or Mars will move out of view."

You may not have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy a star party, but it's sure a good place to meet some future ones.

Standing in line for Wold's telescope, three 5-year-olds discuss the thermal properties of the planet Pluto.

"It gets colder when its closer to the sun, and warmer when it gets farther away!" says a perplexed Kai Burley, 5. "It's the opposite behavior!"

A few moments later, 8-year-old Indica Keith is quick to recognize an opportunity when she hears Grendler invite a reporter to "hold a piece of Mars."

"Excuse me, but what are you doing?" the girl asks. Her polite assertiveness pays off. Soon, her own small palm cupped the fragile, reddish-black shard, part of a chunk of basalt believed knocked from Mars to Earth after a large meteorite struck the Red Planet a million years ago.

Interest skyrockets

Earth's current close encounter with Mars is probably the biggest impetus for the upsurge in astronomical interest, local leaders say.

The last big bump in the Eugene Astronomical Society's attendance came during the 1986 appearance of Haley's Comet, Bartels says.

"That was very exciting," he recalls. "Especially meeting the old-timers who'd seen it in the Midwest as kids."

But the club's best turnouts came even earlier, though the Eugene-Springfield population was much smaller.

After President Eisenhower declared 1957 "The Geophysical Year" and people began talking seriously about space travel, astronomical society parties drew thousands to Alton Baker Park to gaze at the moon, he says.

Another factor in the current trend is the increasing affordability of sophisticated viewing equipment.

Large mirrors and lenses were once so expensive that most amateurs could afford them only by grinding their own mirrors. But, thanks to Chinese lens makers, prices are one-tenth what they used to be. That's a mixed blessing, Bartels notes.

"China is destroying the U.S. optical industry," he says.

Optics aren't the only thing declining in price, Grendler says. Three years ago, she paid about $3,000 for an 8-inch, motor-driven scope big and stable enough to hold her photographic equipment.

"Now I could probably buy an 11- or 14-inch mirror with a GPS system included," she said.

Another reason for increased interest in astronomical society events is Grendler's leadership, says longtime club member Igor Gladstone. She's been more interested in grinding out announcements of club events than grinding her own lenses.

Grendler happily cops to hustling new members. She wants others to have the life-changing experience she had the first time she attended a society gaze in 1997.

"We looked at Saturn and the Orion Nebula that night," Grendler recalls. "It was a super-clear winter night, and I was just awed by what one could see in a telescope. It was a very moving experience for me. It expanded my world, and I got hooked."

She joined the society, began volunteering at Pine Mountain Observatory near Bend and eventually purchased her own telescope.

Grendler has big dreams for the Eugene Astronomical Society, which recently won tax-free status. She says she hopes to build the club's membership to the point that a Eugene observatory becomes feasible.

And it's not too late to still see Mars while it's still particularly big and beautiful.

"Mars will continue to be exceptionally bright several weeks after its (Aug. 27) closest approach," she said. "And we will have another star party on College Hill Reservoir Sept. 12 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m."

Karen McCowan can be reached at 338-2422 or [e-mail].

Sky-watching tips

Don't rush out and buy a telescope before learning what kind you prefer. Many objects, from the Milky Way to meteor showers, require only dark sky and a lawn chair. Binoculars are also a good way to start.

Don't be discouraged if you can't see much from your urban back yard. City light pollution has all but wiped out the once-common sight of the Milky Way, for example. Get away from the city's glow and you'll find it's still up there.

Do attend a local stargazing event, where you can hang out with folks who already have expertise. The Eugene Astronomical Society hosts regular gazes at light-shielded spots such as College Hill Reservoir, where members open their scopes to guests.

Do consider joining such a club. Benefits include borrowing privileges, allowing you to check out, take home and try out various telescopes from the group's lending library. The society's Web site is www.eugeneastro.org.

Don't be intimidated by lack of education or expertise. While many Eugene Astronomical Society members have college science degrees, some don't even have a high school diploma.

Do subscribe to a magazine for sky-watchers, such as "Astronomy" or "Sky and Telescope." Or buy a basic stargazing guide such as Grendler's favorite, "Night Watch" by Terrance Dickinson.

Do learn to "star hop," using night sky landmarks such as the Big Dipper (part of Ursa Major) and the North Star (Polaris) to point a telescope in the right spot to find more distant objects.

- Source: Jean Grendler

and Mel Bartels of the Eugene Astronomical Society

CAPTION(S):

Mel Bartels uses an 8-foot, 20-inch-mirror "Dobsonian" scope at a gathering in the Ochoco National Forest, where astronomers observed Mars (the brightest streak above) as it moved across the sky. Red squiggles below represent the special red-gel lights used by people on the ground to keep light pollution at a minimum. The large photograph was made using a time exposure of a little more than two hours on ASA 100 film with a 50mm lens at f2.8. Collin Andrew / The Register-Guard Two worn out astronomers take advantage of a beautiful early morning to rest up for another night of stargazing at the 2003 Oregon Star Party east of Prineville. The four-day event attracts star lovers from all over the Northwest.