Kevin Poe: Dark Wars Tourism

Kevin Poe, a NPS Ranger and one of our presenters at Acadia National Park, Maine, created some Power Point presentations in defense of Dark Skies and Astro-tourism. Take a look!

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From Kevin Poe's Website

www.IamtheDarkRanger.com

 

Welcome to the cyber-home of the Dark Ranger!Greetings people of Earth! My name is Kevin "The Dark Ranger" Poe and I'm the Head Dark Ranger at Bryce Canyon National Park - where the illustrious Dark Ranger tradition began in the year 2000. With the help of this website, I hope to further the Dark Ranger mission which is to heighten public awareness to the ravages of light pollution and the EVEN MORE dire host of concerns pending the unmitigated calamity known as  anthropomorphic global climate change.

Dark Wars Tourism Part1

View more presentations from Kevin Poe


 

Dark Wars Tourism Part2

View more presentations from Kevin Poe

International Observe the Moon Night Event

The Custer Observatory, Southold, NY,  held a public event in observance of "International Observe the Moon Night" on October 8, 2011. We were pleased to have approximately 200 people visit Custer throughout the evening. It was great to see the large numbers of families last night enjoying a fun and educational evening with their children, many of them first-timers. 

The dedicated Staff at Custer Observatory works hard to give anyone with an interest in learning more about astronomy a unique personal astronomical experience. From looking through an eight-foot pair of binoculars, looking through one of our lawn scopes or visiting our Dome, visitors always walk away with a new experience. Our knowledgeable staff is always ready to answer any of your astronomical ponderings. It was a great night for Observing the Moon with great people. Come see for yourself!

David Barnett used a videoscope to project live images of the moon on the side of our shed while Alan Cousins manned a Dobsonian Telescope for visitors to get views of Jupiter and its moons.

Bill Crispino, from AOS (Amateur Observers Society),  showed visitors views of the moon and Jupiter from their mini dome on Custer's lawn.

An amateur astronomer, Rob, set up his telescope and allowed visitors to share his views of the night sky.

On very busy nights we hand out tickets to allow for an orderly visit to the Dome telescope where David VanPoppering showed visitors views of the night sky in our 25 inch Obsession Telescope.

Visitors enjoy a video about the Moon while they wait

How's this for a unique experience? A girl wanted to hold Jupiter in her hand instead of the moon so David Barnett obliged by projecting an image of Jupiter on our shed for photos.

Alan Cousins looking through the spotting scope to find Jupiter

David Barnett

Many thanks to Barbara, Justine, Rico, Bill F., Mike and all the other volunteers last night that helped with our event!

Sky Rangers Workshop - September 27, 2011

Sky Rangers Outdoor Astronomy Interpretation Workshop
Acadia National Park, Maine
September 25 - 29, 2011

 Universe without Supernovae

Marni Berendsen

Past Supernovae

Working on Constellation Tours

Susan Knisley & Adam Schmidt

Adam Schmidt & Alexa Pezzano 

Doug Rich, Tyler Nordgren & Paul Price

Matthew Kantola , Kevin Poe & Vernon Laux

Bert Probst & Ehren Gross

Pablo Nelson

Kinesthetic Life Cycle of Stars

 Telescope Demos

Bob Reichman demonstrates how to dismantle his Dobsonian

Bob Reichman, Deborah Price, Matthew Kantola & Carol-Anne Puglisi

Chad  Moore, Ethan Kuhnhenn, Michael Marion & Laura Jevtich

Robert Gutierrez  & Chad Moore

?, Lucia Brimer, Bert Probst & Robert Sparks

Bert Probst, Adam Schmidt, Robert Sparks & ?

Lucia Brimer, Bert Probst, Kate Zylland & Robert Sparks

Laurel Ladwig demonstrates the telescope

Steve Petznick & Laurel Ladwig

Steve Petznick, Mike Broughton, Doug Rich & Laurel Ladwig

Betty Glass & Pablo Nelson

Aurora Photos - September 26, 2011

Aurora Borealis - Acadia National Park, Maine

An alert was sent out from Spaceweather Aurora Detection Network on September 26, 2011. Supposedly the Kp Index hit 8 and we were in the middle of a geomagnetic storm. 

"GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A strong-to-severe geomagnetic storm is in progress following the impact of a coronal mass ejection (CME) at approximately 12:15 UT (Universal Time) on September 26th. The Goddard Space Weather Lab reports a "strong compression of Earth's magnetosphere. Simulations indicate that solar wind plasma [has penetrated] close to geosynchronous orbit starting at 13:00 UT." Geosynchronous satellites could therefore be directly exposed to solar wind plasma and magnetic fields. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for Northern and Southern Lights after nightfall."

The Aurora was visible from the Acadia National Park, Schoodic Point, Maine, shortly before 9:00pm EST. Stargazing events were going on at the same time, the Acadia Night Sky Festival and The Sky Rangers Interpretive Workshop, from a dark-sky park. It was great being in the right place at the right time with my camera to capture the event. My first Aurora!

8:55pm EST

8:56pm EST

8:57pm EST

8:57pm EST

9:00pm EST

9:12pm EST

9:13pm EST

9:14pm EST

9:14pm EST

9:15pm EST

9:25pm EST

9:29pm EST

Another photographer, Robert Sparks, from NOAO (The National Optics Astronomy Observatory), one of our instructors and telescope coaches, was also there and his photos can be found on Flickr. He used a Fish-eye lens which caught a wider field of view.