2017 Grand Canyon Star Party South Rim - Day 8

[Skylook123]

DAY EIGHT - Final Night and the Clouds Take Over

Location: Grand Canyon Visitor Center, South Rim of Grand Canyon, AZ, about 340 miles north of home in Tucson, about 7000 ft. elevation

Weather: Typical partly cloudy during the day, clearing out started after sunset but reversed to eventual total coverage.  Upper-90s daytime, still warm trapped by clouds we quit at 1:30 AM.

Seeing and Transparency: A few sucker holes, totally obscure on the western meridian except an occasional Jupiter sighting, more open in the east

Equipment: 90mm Orion ShortTube refractor on a Celestron AVX mount.  Mallincam Xterminator video system on the 10", 19" QFX LCD monitor.

We had our last day pot luck at Mather Campground and it was very nice to review the week and just have a great social event.  The sky was a combination of cloud types, a typical afternoon for this time of year in the area and we expected the usual evacuation at or just after sunset.  We were wrong.

Once again, our terrific week unveiling our home universe to thousands of visitors is coming to an end.   Over 100 volunteer astronomers have come from around the world to accomplish this task.  The dedication of the Ranger staff and support from all the GCNP personnel, from the Superintendent on down through our coordinator, Ranger Rader Lane, on down to the Ranger Aids, makes this all possible.

Our speaker was Kevin Schindler, historian at Lowell Observatory with the topic Fly Me to the Moon Through Northern Arizona, an overview of the training of the Apollo astronauts in geology and lunar operations in the area between the Grand Canyon, through Sunset Crater and Lowell Observatory and extending to Meteor Crater. 

It was a great overview of the initial political motivation translated into the engineering and educational processes to make it happen.  Full of anecdotal references and personal stories and actions of the astronauts and launch teams, it was quite a journey in time with an exposition of the realities of the era.  We raffled off our final Celestron First Scope donation, and got to watch the birth of another astronomer.

I had to scramble out at the scope because of time constraints limiting my getting the monitor, camera, and power configuration accomplished.  I needed to do the 10 PM Constelation Tour, and the sky was awful and getting worse.  The eastern horizon was fairly open, but the western horizon was mostly obscured except for Jupiter and occasionally The Big Dipper.  I wanted to get onto Albireo for my wife, Susan, to do her teaching while I did the walk around the sky, but the migrating cloud and wildfire assembly just wouldn't let it happen.  I shut off the monitor and went to start the tour, which was surprisingly successful.  The big blotches would move around almost on cue, exposing talking points and then covering them back up.  I was able to get in a complete ecliptic/zodiac exposition, the Milky Way was wide open on cue, and a full multi-cultural discussion was possible, but the writing was in the sky.  Less and less availability.  By the time I got back to the scope and final adjustments, only the area from Sagittarius through upper Scorpius was open.  I went over to M22, the globular cluster on the Sagittarius teapot, but while a star field near the core of the Milky Way was visible, the cluster itself was washed out.  Thinking I might have an alignment problem, I did GOTOs to Antares, and to M4, but they both popped in dead center.  The M4 globular stuck around for a while, but by about 11:45 the sky totally slammed shut.  I foolishly waited with grandson Andrew until after 1 AM, but nothing was clearing out.  We shut things down, got ready for pack up the next morning, and ended the night.

I have left out a half dozen wonderful encounters with visitors who had questions about almost everything astronomical, from the practical possibilities of space travel to the cultural significance of many pieces of the sky that would come and go.  The evolution and life cycle of stars of various sizes, and the colors of the stars were great ways to patiently spend the time with the visitors, hoping along with the astronomers for more wonders of our home universe to come into view, but we were limited to Saturn and Jupiter for any moderate length of time.  I was able to relay a concept among some Native American cultures that the spirits of ancestors reside in the clouds, and so it is not polite to complain about the clouds; they are a sign that ancestors are coming to help with some problem, real or imagined.  Still, there are times when indoor model railroading might be a worthy alternative pastime to consider!

Having grandsons Stephen and Andrew around has been a joy.  Their willingness to learn, and their jumping in at a moment's notice to help the Rangers with many tasks in the background of making this remarkable event happen has been invaluable.  A priceless asset!

The few great hours I've had this year under the stars have been astounding.  Having to switch scopes from the 10" to the 90mm through the incredible capability of the Xterminator once again brings the context of a view alive.  It's been nice to once again visit the stage where the parading beauties of the night sky are displayed, a great complement to the close up images of the objects themselves.

[Mr niall]

Oh my goodness that sounds amazing!

[estwing]

thank you for posting Jim a truly eventful week, some not so good!..a fantastic read and a shame the weather didn't play ball but that's stargazing for you!.

sounds like it was still an interesting week with like-minded people....clear skies to you.

[alan potts]

Always interesting stuff from you Jim, must find time in the next day or so to read the others.

Alan

[Skylook123]

It truly is amazing to get 1,500 to 1,700 visitors together each night for 8 nights, in dark skies at 7,000 feet with 45 to 60 volunteer astronomers, and introduce the visitors to their home universe.  This was the 27th straight year of the event.  I've been participating for fifteen years and the coordinator for 8 years, and some years the weather cooperates, some years less so.  The last two years have been quite above normal for  temperatures and the major wildfires in the area hurt the transparency at times, but the visitors still are awe struck by the views. and knowledge.  For the last six years we never lost a night, this year really only lost part of the last  night.  With our daytime outreach (my wife and one grandson did  two hours every morning helping visitors build  eclipse viewers and other hands-on takeaways, and some of us did other solar and planetary demonstrations during the day, so lots of contacts were made.  We average about 75,000 visitor contacts over the eight days and nights. 

Now, time to get ready for the Great American Eclipse.  My wife and I will be in northwest Nebraska at the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, assisting the Park Rangers with an estimated 1,000 visitors (three school districts are taking that Monday off and will join us).  This will be my third, and my advice to folks is to enjoy the real experience.  If you are not yet an accomplished photographer of such events, enjoy the view and buy someone else's images.  It's the experience that counts!

We all have gifts to share, so get out there and open the universe.  You never know what life you'll touch, or might even touch yours.

[estwing]

 wise words...

[Skylook123]

On ‎7‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 00:23, estwing said:

 wise words...

Thanks, estwing.  Some required much painful learning, and also brings the thought that youth seems wasted on the young!  Our journey through life seems more focused on looking in the mirror at where we've been, rather than looking forward to where we are going.  Perhaps if we were more thoughtful looking forward, the lessons learned would become lessons anticipated and certainly would be a cheaper life path!  My personal lesson most often applied is "Don't Do That Again."

But the fact that we have gifts to share with others is profound yet too often unused.  Sharing is caring, and I learn much from the first time visitor to an eyepiece and I pay close attention to others' reactions.  It becomes a way to see through new eyes.

[estwing]

I love sharing my scope with others ..gives me immense pleasure knowing others are using my scope and are being wowed by it

[Skylook123]

In the distant past, some of us had a little activity we'd perform if Saturn was visible.  Since each of us would serve over 400 visitors each night, we would informally keep track of two reactions: 1.  How many would accuse us of having an artificial image somewhere in the optical chain; and 2.  How many could we notice shed a tear or two upon walking away?

[estwing]

1 for me...still think it's almost cartoonish when you see Saturn...as if a postcard were stuck at the other end of the focuser!

[Graham Darke]

Great set of reports. I have fond memories of attending this event for one night in 2002. Spent a few hours with a guy called Mike Spooner and his home built 18 inch dobsonian. I remember how dry the air was. The transparency was awesome.

[Skylook123]

Thanks, Graham.  Glad you could attend.  In the fifteen years since, we've changed location on the Park to an isolated large parking area with no lights nor traffic, and have been in a six year light footprint reduction program across the Park.  We are now a Provisional International Dark Sky Park, with two years left to finish the light fixture upgrades for over 5,000 offending lights.  All of this is being done by fund raising by the Grand Canyon Association, the non-proifit partner of the park.  When finished in 2019 for the 100th anniversary of the founding of Grand Canyon National Park, it will be the largest and most complex ecosystem to achieve International Dark Sky Park status in the world.

Mike Spooner is a fantastic mirror builder and telescope builder.  He was with us for one night this year.

Half The Park Is After Dark!

[Graham Darke]

Must come visit again. You heading North for the eclipse next month?

 

[Skylook123]

9 hours ago, Graham Darke said:

Must come visit again. You heading North for the eclipse next month?

 

Please come again!  Most nights we have 60 or more telescopes, and room for many more.

Yes, this was day 1 of  our 7 week quest, first from Arizona to Ohio for family adventures, then back through Nebraska near the Wyoming border to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument where my wife Susan and I shall be assisting the National Park Service rangers host several thousand visitors for  the Great American Eclipse.  I'm tired thinking about it already.  In 2012, we supported the annular eclipse at Grand Canyon National Park with 30 other astronomers and 3,500 visitors just in one parking lot.

[Paz]

Thanks for posting about this event, it sounds amazing.