I will be at the South Rim star party on June 14-16, so maybe I will see you
and Frank there, Sam.
for anyone who wants to participate as a volunteer, just contact Jim O'Connor
of TAAA (Tucson Amateur Astronomers Association) and he will arrange an entry
pass for you. his email is gcsp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx being a volunteer means:
you bring a scope or binoculars, and show things to the tourists till around
11 pm. after that the dark skies are all ours.
----- Original Message -----
From: Redacted sender "insanas@xxxxxxx" for DMARC
To: pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2015 2:28 PM
Subject: [pasmembers] Re: Grand Canyon Star Party
Sat June 13th through Sat June 20th is the 25th Annual Grand Canyon Star
Party. If you go to the North Rim, there are astronomy lectures in the North
Rim Lodge and then viewing on the balcony at night with dozens of telescopes.
The problem is that they have some lights on that waste the darkness of the
area. If you want to see a very dark night sky bring your own scope and go to
the meadows half way between Jacobs Lake and the North Rim. It is a Bortle one
area. I brought my 8 inch scope there for 2 nights 2 years ago and had the
best views ever and could put high magnification on faint objects. It gets cold
there after midnight so dress in layers.
Last year I did the South Rim. They have a slide show of the night sky every
night at the Visitor Center at 8 pm and then viewing through about 100
telescopes from about 9 pm on.
There are a variety of telescopes and they keep the lights off so that you
get good views. My wife and I will be joining our son Frank to do the South
Rim star party again this year June 14th and June 15th. During the day Frank
will be driving us around in his jeep and we will also do some hiking.
There is no charge to attend the star parties, but you have to pay to get
into the national park.
If it is too late to make plans to attend this year, mark on your calendars
that it will take place June 4th to 11th next summer. To get campgrounds or
hotel reservations it is advisable to make them at least 6 months in advance.
Take care, Sam