Last Friday’s Stars-in-the-Park event at Blanco State Park saw more than fifty participants. Combining environmental awareness with a hands-on orientation to the science of astronomy, this continuing series of events has become an important community outreach by the Park and is greatly enjoyed by local residents and visitors alike. Comments from both children and adults on Friday confirmed a high level of excitement and enthusiasm for the program and the majesty of Blanco’s night sky.
The event began in the Park’s pavilion with Blanco night sky advocate Wayne Gosnell giving an environmental presentation about night sky preservation. Representing the Hill Country Alliance, he extolled the virtues of a pristine night sky free of light pollution. He gave practical tips on how individuals and businesses can easily modify outdoor lighting to protect and preserve the night sky.
Blanco area resident and amateur astronomer, John Watson, wowed the audience with his Stellarium presentation. Similar to a planetarium but projected onto a flat screen, the Stellarium program allowed the audience to view a computer-generated rendition of the heavens above Blanco at the exact day and hour of the presentation. The stars, planets, and constellations were clearly visible and seen in relation to each other. Picking out what were seemingly tiny dots in the simulated night sky, John digitally zoomed in on distant galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. He explained the intricate dance of two sets of double stars rotating around a common center of gravity and talked of the North Star (Polaris), and the star cluster, Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. Fielding questions from the audience, John expertly answered one each in a simple, understandable, but very informative and often humorous manner.
Once the sun went down, the participants went outside under the stars where they viewed the celestial bodies through a variety of telescopes brought to the event by the Hill Country Astronomers, an amateur astronomy club based in Fredericksburg. On Friday, there was a half moon in the sky and it was possible to see the craters of the moon in fascinating detail. Other telescopes focused on Jupiter and its moons, the rings of Saturn, and other objects far from our solar system and some that were even outside our own galaxy.
Volunteers from the Friends of Blanco State Park assisted with the event, helping orient visitors and covering their flashlights with red cellophane to protect night vision. Volunteers also signed up eight attendees as new members of the Hill Country Alliance’s Night Sky Co-op.
“We continue to be gratified by the interest we have seen in our Stars-in-the-Park program,” said Park Superintendent Ethan Belicek, “We’re going to take a break over the summer because the days are so long but we’ll have the astronomers and their telescopes back in the fall. We hope everyone with an interest in the night sky will come see it in all its glory, up close and personal.”
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