TACO in Utah update

by Darrell Lee

I locked my keys in my car accidentally. It was so warm coming back from solar viewing, I threw my jacket into the trunk of my car, and naturally my car keys were inside the jacket. After calling my wife to overnight my extra car keys, the Law Enforcement Rangers got their car break-in tools (they used a couple of wedges and a flexible metal rod to push the door’s unlock button) and opened my car for me. It always helps when dealing with LEOs, to tell them I taught at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center for a couple of years, as that gives me some extra credibility to offset the credibility I lose for being dumb enough to do things like locking my keys in my car.

I set up my SN-10 in the parking lot in the evening. Elevation at the VC is 7910’, and GPS coordinates are 37º38’27.3”N, 112 º10’11.3”W. We astro folks sometimes set up private viewing sessions at the Paria View parking lot, which is a little higher (8164’), and mostly free from parking lot and road headlights interruptions that affect our VC parking lot sessions. Other than the collimation going south and the clutches slipping at the end of the session, the scope worked well and was giving great views all night. Views of M11 and the Swan Nebula were wonderful. I also had my scope briefly on the Lagoon Nebula and Albireo. Steve had M13 in his 8” SCT, and Jim had the Andromeda Galaxy and the Veil and Ring Nebulae in his 14.5” Starmaster. Randy was running the CPC1100, but shut it down to give the constellation tour. My observing buddy Renato wants me to look at NGC 7479, a face-on barred spiral in Pegasus, under truly dark skies, so I’ll do that my next viewing opportunity. I’d been telling people that the Wild Duck Cluster was maybe 1000 light years distant. When I check my facts the next day, I learn it’s 6000 light years distant.

9/19 Tuesday. Another day off. I visited Pipe Springs National Monument and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, as I’d never been to either before. They closed the Visitor Center and employee parking lots today, and they also closed the park road south of Farview Point, so it was a good day to leave the park. Gasoline in Kanab was $2.68/gallon for regular, and $2.88 for premium. I got home 10 p.m. for a 12 hour day. I saw my 9th Bobcat running across the road near the north rim. The others include two others in Arizona, four in California, one in Texas, and one in Florida. I also saw a Coyote coming back up to Bryce, and lots of Mule Deer. I visited all viewpoints (including those you have to walk to) along the North Rim roads, except Roosevelt Vista. I’ve now seen all the Arizona National Parks and Monuments except Navajo NM, which I’m planning to visit this coming weekend. It was great driving home tonight and seeing the Milky Way as I drove north, despite my lack of dark adaptation with the car’s headlights on. I got 40 mpg today, thanks to cruising the park roads at 35-40 mph.

9/20 Wednesday. Steve, Jim, and I created the following justification document today, as the weather is threatening snow and dropping hail, and we curtailed our solar viewing.

Bryce Canyon Astronomy Program

Public astronomy programs at Bryce Canyon have been part of the Interpretation Program for more than two decades. Astronomy programs were scheduled on a regular, but intermittent, basis. The positive public response and growing interest led to a quantum leap in the program after 2003. A huge increase in the number of programs and in the number of people attending was made possible by a concerted effort to schedule large numbers of volunteers, and increased the number and quality of telescopes available. In addition, since most of the volunteers are serious amateur astronomers, they often bring their own high quality instruments.

The early leadership of Kevin Poe, Randy Dunning, and Ron Warner, followed by the addition of Chad Moore and Angie Richman made the dramatic expansion of the program possible.

In the first years of night sky programs, presentations were scheduled roughly on a monthly basis, and they were greeted with some popularity. The addition of amateur volunteers allowed the expansion of programs to a minimum of three to four times per week throughout the season. In recent years, more than twenty-five different volunteer astronomers have lent their efforts to interpreting the skies above Bryce Canyon. The popularity of the program has resulted in a waiting list of amateur astronomers desiring to participate in the program.

Most night sky programs involve the participation of over one hundred Bryce Canyon visitors. When conditions are ideal during summer nights, it is not unusual to have two hundred participants or more each night. The evening programs often last well beyond midnight, bringing outreach to visitors well beyond the normal work day. One estimate for the seasonal contacts by the astronomy program during 2005 was over 27,000 total people served.

Evening telescope viewing is coordinated with the evening Ranger program to give visitors a better appreciation of the importance of the dark night sky at Bryce Canyon. Each night, four to six telescopes are set up to display a wide variety of celestial objects. Both Bryce Canyon staff and volunteers interpret not only the scientific significance of those objects, but also allow visitors to experience dark skies they may be unable to see at home.

In 2005, the donation of a solar telescope allowed a significant expansion of the astronomy program to daylight hours. This unique instrument allows volunteers to share an unusual experience – that of viewing our sun’s solar phenomena at a level previously only possible to research scientists. We are able to show visitors solar prominences, sunspots, and other features. Visitor response has been overwhelmingly positive to this unique aspect of Bryce Canyon interpretation. Frequent comments include exclamations such as “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life” and “This made the entire summer trip special.”

The solar program expands Bryce Canyon’s astronomy outreach, spanning both daylight and nighttime hours, adding up to many hours of public contact per week. We’re also exporting astronomy outreach to Red Canyon USFS Visitor Center, Kodachrome Basin State Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Circleville and other local schools on a weekly basis.

In addition to astronomy duties, volunteers also serve regularly scheduled shifts at the information desk of Bryce Canyon Visitor Center.

The Bryce Canyon astronomy program continues to be a dynamic aspect of the interpretation efforts of the park.

Darrell Lee