The Lost Valley Bemies Observatory 

One of the great things about Lost Valley is the dark sky. Lost Valley is located 10 miles east of the famous 200" Hale telescope at Mt. Palomar.  The camp's proximity to Mt. Palomar protects the dark night sky because of lighting ordinances in both Riverside and San Diego Counties.  If you would like the darkest skies for better viewing, plan your trip around a new moon.

See Venus during the Daytime!

Troop/Post 33 of Tustin built the Lost Valley Observatory and dedicated it to James Bemies (1922 - 1977); their Assistant Scoutmaster and Assistant Post Advisor. At the time, Troop and Post 33 of Tustin was one the largest troops in the council.  The large size of Troop/ Post 33 allowed them to build several large projects for Lost Valley, including the Beshears Amphitheatre, as gifts to the camp. Construction of the Observatory started in September 1979 and proceeded slowly for several years (part of the structure was torn down and later rebuilt). The Observatory finally opened in 1984.

Prior to the Observatory, Lost Valley had several smaller 'scopes, the first in 1965 (it is believed that the original pad and mount are still in place near the meadow well pumphouse). These telescopes had to be set up and taken down for every use, so they were not used much.

The Observatory's main telescope is a 14" Newtonian Reflector. The telescope's mount is a German Equatorial Mount with a tracking clock motor. The staff estimates that this telescope was custom built in the 1960s. In 2007, the staff repaired the mount and got the tracking motor back in working condition.

14" Newtonian Relector Telescope on a German Equatorial Mount

According to sources, the telescope was donated to the Boy Scouts of America by a church in Fountain Valley. The church's pastor found the telescope in the church's attic.

Our auxiliary telescope is a 10" Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain (SCT), Model 2120 with an LX5 mount. This telescope is mounted on a heavy-duty tripod with a wedge. The wedge allows us to align the telescope's orientation to the North Star.  Then a small motor tracks the stars across the sky.

10" Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope on a Altitude/Azimuth Mount with a wedge

There is little information on the history of this telescope. It was produced in the late 1980s and was configured for astro-photography. The telescope was located in late 2006, improperly stored in the observatory. Field mice had taken up residence inside the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) and had left their nests, among other things. After several evaluations by amateur astronomers, the verdict was to disassemble the telescope and sell it. A Campmaster staff member volunteered to clean it. After some research, the cleaning attempt was made.  After 8 hours both the primary and secondary mirrors were cleaned. First light after the cleaning proved encouraging, so additional time and resources were put into wiring up the electronics. The restoration proved to be successful and the telescope was used during the 2007 Memorial Day Family Camp when 150 campers viewed Saturn using this telescope.

If you have any information on the history of the telescopes or the observatory, we would love to publish it on the website. Please email any information to ssrlv@ssrlv.org

Several improvements were made to the observatory in 2007 including red lighting and a computer with a simple planetarium program to select visable Dark-sky targets. In 2007, we were able to show Scouts the Ring Nebula, the Whirlpool Galaxy, and other Dark-Sky objects.

During 2007's summer camp, the nature staff collected aluminum cans and sold popcorn to fund some purchaces for the observatory. Five pairs of binoculars and a Telrad sight for the 10" SCT were purchased with these funds. Next on the list is a larger telescope case to help protect this telescope and house the binoculars.

During Summer Camp, the Nature Center staff teaches the Astronomy Merit Badge. A requirement of the Merit Badge is night sky observation, so there are overnighters at the observatory.

Overnight camping/observation area outside The Lost Valley Bemies Observatory 

We hope you come up and take a look at our beautiful night skies. It will be a memory to last a lifetime.

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