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Space Topics: Planetary AnalogsStars Above, Earth BelowAstronomy and Space Exploration in America's National Parks
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Light pollution in Colorado, USA The skies above Rocky Mountain National Park are subject to light pollution from several cities, mostly clustered along two freeways, Interstate 25 (which runs north-south across the state) and Interstate 70 (which runs east-west). Light pollution is worst in Denver, which is home to nearly 2.5 million people. Credit: Chad Moore |
by Tyler
Nordgren
August 23, 2007
Rocky Mountain Night Sky Park
Volkswagen Repair Shop, Boulder, Colorado -- After two
weeks of talks, meetings, and discussions in Rocky
Mountain National Park (RMNP) I am on my way up to Grand Teton National
Park. For the average family on vacation, RMNP is a great place to go see
the night sky, and the folks at the park are working very hard to get the
word out about it. Sitting in Colorado’s Front Range, the east side
of RMNP is an easy drive from Denver and Boulder, and, with the surrounding
communities of Estes Park and Lyons, it is the most-visited side of the
park. A look at a satellite image of light pollution overlain with park
boundaries shows the effects of the neighboring communities on the park.
But what the park has done with its wonderfully transparent, high-altitude
skies is absolutely amazing.
During the peak summer visiting months, Park Ranger Jeff Maugans organizes six evening star parties (during both new moon when the sky is at its darkest, and around first quarter when the Moon is at its most striking). I was there Friday, August 17, for the last of these when there was only a thin crescent moon in the sky. The park has two 8-inch (20-centimeter) computerized Meade telescopes and the Estes Valley Astronomical Society comes out in force to add their telescopic weight to the event. By the time the Sun sets, a dozen telescopes line the North Beaver Meadows picnic area. This night’s weather was pretty pathetic, with many clouds that hid the Milky Way and frequently dimmed the light of Jupiter. Any serious astronomer would call this a cloudy night, but over a hundred park visitors made the drive out to this secluded part of the park’s main valley and stayed for the evening to see what they could see.
Stargazing in Rocky Mountain National Park
Park Ranger Jeff Maugans gets the telescopes organized before the public arrives. A herd of elk move through before dark. Credit: Tyler Nordgren |
Extrasolar planets in the park
Several of the stars around which extrasolar planets have been discovered can only be seen with the naked eye under dark sky conditions. Credit: Tyler Nordgren |
Mark Bagdy, president of the EVAS, started the evening off with a talk and demonstration of the search for planets around other stars. His folding table in the meadow was loaded down with literature for NASA’s Planet Quest program. Several dozen interested visitors were actively engaged with him until it became too dark to see. At that point Ranger Maugans took over with an introduction to the park’s astronomy program and a discussion of light pollution. Meanwhile, Stephen Little and Irene Little-Marenin, two retired astronomers who now live in the area, oriented the telescopes and got Jupiter and the Moon in the eyepieces. By the time twilight ended, the clouds were clearing up while the crowds continued to grow. Cars had long since filled the parking lot and now extended as far as the eye could see down the dirt access road. I stood at one of the telescopes mounted on permanently polar-aligned telescope piers installed around the park (pre-drilled for most Celestron and Meade telescopes and free for anyone to use). Three are located in the meadow and all were in use tonight.
When I proposed to my publisher my idea for a book connecting astronomy and planetary science in the national parks, their first impression was that this would be a good resource for the amateur astronomy community. However, virtually none of the approximately 120 people who were waiting in various lines to see Jupiter and whatever Messier object peeked through the clouds considered themselves amateur astronomers. Most, when they looked through the eyepiece at Jupiter, had no idea what they were looking at, at first. These were simply people from Chicago, Dallas, Miami, and Denver (to name just of the few cities) who couldn’t see skies like this from back home. When we talked with them about astronomy, space exploration, and light pollution, we were not simply preaching to the choir.
That’s where national parks like Rocky Mountain are going to help us astronomers. When I told people they were looking at moons of Jupiter as big as our own where, on one, volcanoes were erupting as we spoke, and, on another, a liquid ocean waited beneath a frozen crust, you heard the wonder in the their voices. These are the people who will be paying for NASA’s next flagship mission to the outer solar system (which planetary scientists discussed just the previous week down in Boulder at the Outer Solar System Satellites Workshop). This is an audience we should be paying more attention to. Some NASA programs are already taking advantage of this audience, including Jane Jones at the Cassini Education and Outreach program who gave talks about the Cassini mission at both Yosemite and Bryce Canyon this past year.
The view from Beaver Meadows, Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park maintains three permanently polar-aligned telescope piers at the Upper Beaver Meadows picnic area. While the initial weather was cloudy, like most summer afternoon monsoon weather in the park, the skies cleared up after dark. Credit: Tyler Nordgren |
The audience will be waiting there for us as long as the parks remain dark sky refuges, and here’s where Rocky Mountain National Park really shines. They have installed light-pollution-friendly lighting in new construction within the park. Their main headquarters and visitor center (a Frank Lloyd Wright design) at Beaver Meadows just outside Estes Park have been retrofitted with very nice fully downward pointing lighting that blend in with the look of the building. While conversing with park resource and interpretive personnel I was asked to drive around the park at night and look for examples of poor lighting; to my pleasure, I found very few. Some of the interpretive staff are talking about creating pamphlets and downloadable files specifically for visitors who are interested in astronomy when they check the park website and inquire at the visitor center, telling them where to go and what to do.
Crowds at the Rocky Mountain National Park star party
Over a hundred park visitors braved the high altitude (2,700 meters or 8,800 feet), intermittent clouds, and moderately cold temperatures in order to see the park's skies after dark. Credit: Tyler Nordgren |
Back at the star party, the park’s commitment to preserving and managing their valuable night-sky resource was evident in the crowds that had gathered. For those with telescopes, piers were available. For those who came up to the park to volunteer at the star parties, there were arrangements for free entrance to the park and camping spots set aside at the Moraine campground. The crowds were still going strong and I overheard discussions of dark matter, globular clusters, and star formation. What started out as a not very promising evening has turned into a successful end to another summer observing season in the high, clear skies of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Next week I will be in Grand Teton on my way up to Glacier National Park. Right now I am in a car dealer show room waiting to get my left-front headlight replaced. Even an astronomer needs some light at night.
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