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I think it's odd how we have out of town star parties in June, but not in September (except the Wilson Commons BBQ this year). September is more of a summer month than June, actually. Going by not only the official solstice start dates, but also the weather.

A reminder of the timing of the seasons: Only the last third of June is summer (summer solstice started the 21st this year), yet over two thirds of Sept. is summer (autumn equinox starts the 23rd). The weather is often still stuck in wet/cold season into June. It was the first week this year. (In fact, two years ago it was overcast, rainy, and stormy for a month straight until it finally switched to the warm/dry season at the very day of the summer solstice June 21.) Yet September is usually quite summer-like still, then it switches back to wet/cold season in October or November. (Knock on wood... for having said that .) So when people invariably start saying summer's coming to an end in early August... no it isn't, that's smack dab in the middle of summer! At least wait 'til the end of Aug. when there's "only" one full month to go. I don't know why they're in such a hurry for it to end, anyway.

Not that I'm saying scratch June, and add September. More like, just add Sept!

Thanks Greg. I agree, Septembers in Northern Nevada tend to be better weather-wise than June. That's why we're having our BBQ in September instead of June.

For those wondering how we schedule our events, we typically try to have a Messier Marathon in March and October. The last couple of years we have set aside each new moon weekend between March and October for 'Member Only' star parties. These typically alternate between the 'Trapshoot' site north of Reno and Wilson Commons down in Washoe Valley. Because we will be at Trapshoot at the end of August, our September new moon function happens to fall at Wilson Commons, which works out well because it has much better facities for a members BBQ. (BTW, Wilson Commons does technically count as 'out of town', and we will be having a star party at the end of the evening.) Any other out of town star parties (Martis Creek Lake, etc.) are usually requested by outside organizations. These requests usually die down after Labor Day as kids are starting to go back to school, etc.

If anyone would like to get further out of town in September, there is the Central Nevada Star Party down by Tonopah.

Thanks for the info, Tim. Yeah, I excepted Wilson Commons from that comment, as the one "out of towner" for September.