A Visit to Chaco Culture International Dark Sky Park

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. Chaco has the distinction of being the world's newest International Dark Sky Park. Alas, it was full moon which is not really the best time to visit a Dark Sky Park, but the sky was clear and the park was magnificent.

Here's the view I had from the one evening I was there:

The landform is Fajada Butte (where the famous "Sun Dagger" is located). In the photo Fajada Butte is joined by Venus, which in turn is nestled in the teapot of Sagittarius. Moonlight is illuminating the butte. That's not light pollution in the sky (you'll find very little of it in the park), but rather the glow of the evening twilight sky.

The park is home to extensive ancient ruins which are the focus of many studies in archaeoastronomy but it also has a night sky program with numerous telescopes, including a wonderful 25-inch Obsession in a dome.

The nighttime programs are not offered all the time, so check with the park for their availability.

The daytime stars of the park are its archaeological treasures. Here are two photos looking down on Pueblo Bonito:

It is difficult to get a sense of scale in the photos above but the big wall of Pueblo Bonito (above, left) is some four stories high and it may have been higher in the past. Pueblo Bonito was the the largest structure ever built in North America until the advent of modern highrise buildings. It was occupied for over 300 years.

There are many archeological sites in the park. Here's the view looking down on another site, Kin Kletso ("Yellow House"):

Not surprisingly, the different structures clearly made use of different techniques and materials in construction, which you can easily see in these detail shots of some of the stone walls: 

Perhaps sometime I'll get the chance to make an extended visit. If so, I hope to have the chance to visit the famed petrograph that might depict the 1054 A.D. supernova.

A Visit to Westhavelland Nature Park

Last week I was in Berlin Germany attending the first International Artificial Light At Night conference. It was an amazing event that brought together over 100 researchers from five continents. One of the conference excursions was a visit to one of the darkest places in Germany - Westhavelland Nature Park. For some time now there has been a concerted effort to engage the communities that surround the park in an effort for them to improve their outdoor lighting and make and also make an application to the International Dark-Sky Association for official status as one of their Dark Sky Places.

 

It was a long expedition from Berlin (especially since our driver initially headed in the wrong direction) but we had a great visit first to the park's nature center where we were greeted by the mayor of Milow (above, at right with the microphone pointed at him) and the director of the center (to the left of the mayor). 

In addition to exhibits on the natural history of the park, the visitor center has several exhibits devoted to light pollution and the night sky. Above is an iPhone panorama that I shot showing off some of the light pollution displays.

Canon 3Ti, 18mm, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 30 sec

The real treat of the evening came when we ventured into the heart of the park. The shot above is looking west. The white glow just right of center is apparently from a paper mill that clearly needs to improve its outdoor lighting.

Canon 3Ti, 18mm, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 30 sec

This view is looking in the same direction, but with the camera pointed higher. Below is the view to the east. It was taken looking over our bus, which produced the bright glows at the bottom of the frame.

Canon 3Ti, 18mm, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 30 sec

The Milky Way was easily visible even though we were not really given time for our eyes to adapt much at all before we were loaded back into the bus. From there we headed to the village of Gülpe where we were greeted by the chief administrator of the city of Rhinow and treated to some stargazing.

Canon 3Ti, 18mm, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 30 sec

The skies here were not quite as dark and some clouds were drifting through as well, but we had a nice look at the universe.

Canon 3Ti, 18mm, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 30 sec

Be sure to check out this great video of the skies above Westhavelland from Harald Bardenhagen.

Yes, there is light pollution that impacts the park but there has already been significant effort to protect the skies there and the work to bring the surrounding communities in on the dark skies movement are to be commended. 

Westhavelland is just one of several planned dark sky places in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. While attending the conference I had the chance to visit with a few of the  people working on these projects. I certainly wish them much success.

A Pass Over North America at Night with Annotated Stills

The videos from the International Space Station keep on coming. The astronauts are now shooting them at the rate of one frame per second, which gives a much closer resemblance to the true speed of the International Space Station than was shown in their previous videos. This sequence was captured January 30, 2012.

I grabbed some of the individual images from the sequence and annotated them to give you some reference points.

The ISS photographed three International Dark Sky Parks in this passage.  Can you name them?  I will point them out in a follow up post.