Sun, Aug 31 2008 - Party Under the Stars (View Original Event Details)
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Elk Island Park celebrated the second anniversary of the Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve, and speakers from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Alberta Parks and Parks Canada taught us about the latest discoveries that have been made by astronomers, the effects of too much light on the creatures of the night (and why we should be trying to reduce light pollution), and the science behind the Northern Lights. In the afternoon, we had a chance to look through specially-filtered telescopes, allowing us to look at the sun. Later, the clouds obscured some of the sky, but even still we had a chance to look through the telescopes at a few objects, such as the Ring Nebula and binary stars. Mu, Cliff and I also stayed around to listen to a re-telling of some of the legends behind the naming of the constellations.
There were a lot of other things that made the day memorable for me:
- watching a wild, kid-friendly "Dark Sky Investigators" presentation, complete with talking flying squirrels and moths. Apparently, if Great Horned Owls could talk, they might sound like Yoda...
- meeting a 9-year-old astronomer, who eagerly led us over to his telescope so he could show us some binary stars. (He knew a LOT about astronomy - it was amazing!)
- stumbling across a bison who had wandered towards the beach at Astotin Lake. Elk Island Park is their home, after all.
Thanks everyone for coming out! - Ryan
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Mark G at photos@edmontonoutdoorclub.com. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to thirty of your favourites (only) for a day event, or up to sixty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.