In late June and early July of 1997, I attended the second annual Southern Skies Star Party organized by Ken Willcox. This event is held in Bolivia along the shores of Lake Titicaca (12,500 feet). At that elevation, the southern skies are fabulously dark. Our group of about 22 people stayed at the Inca Ultama Hotel which afforded a large protected area to set up our telescopes for the week.
Below is a sampling of photographs I took through a range of lenses and an AstroPhysics 105EDT 4" telescope. Special thanks to Vic Winter for loaning me his 8mm, 85mm and 400mm Nikkors!
Inca Utama Hotel (JPEG, 63 Kbyte) During the Southern Skies Star Party, our group stays at the Inca Utama Hotel located on the southeast shore of Lake Titicaca.
Model of Thor Heyerdal's Ra II (JPEG, 47 Kbyte)The Inca Utama Hotel features a number of cultural and historical exhibits and museums. This 50% scale model of Thor Heyerdal's Ra II was built by Jose Lamache who helped Heyerdal build the original. Heyerdal used the Ra II to demonstrate that Egyptian boat builders could have reached the new world using only reel boat technology.
For more photo's and information about the 1997 Southern Skies Star Party as well as many wonderful images of Bolivia, see Vic Winter's SSSP'97 Web Page.
The photographs may be licensed for commercial, editorial, and educational use. Contact Espenak (at MrEclipse) for photo use in print, web, video, CD and all other media.
