A month or so ago, when I took possession of a suite of Sky-Watcher telescopes supplied by EfstonScience of Toronto, the notion of how I would use any of these instruments was farthest from my mind (my first thought was to take the largest of the set and go on an “observing spree” of normally-faint deep space objects.) Read more »
Test-driving a wilderness astronomy dream-setup
Posted in Gear on January 17, 2012 by Peter McMahonHoliday stars over Canada’s best hot spring
Posted in Dark sky preserve tour, Dark sky preserves, Destinations, Photos on January 1, 2012 by Peter McMahon
If someone had asked me last week where you should go if you hate seeing things like stars, planets, nebulas and galaxies, I would have told them to head to BC’s Kootenay mountains.
But after years of trying to go stargazing from Canada’s largest, least crowded, least stinky hot spring, the clouds parted for more than a few hours and we FINALLY Read more »
Canada’s newest public observatory
Posted in Dark sky preserves, Destinations, News with tags canadian astronomy, cypress hills interprovincial park, cypress hills park, wilderness explorer on December 13, 2011 by Peter McMahon
Back in June, I was in Cypress Hills Interprovincial park on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border to research an upcoming column for Sky News magazine - a column (“Wilderness Explorer”) that you can now read and see imagery of in the current issue of the magazine Read more »
Exploring the water of our solar system
Posted in Events, Gear, News on November 21, 2011 by Peter McMahon
I had the chance a few days ago to use some of my latest goodies from Telescopes.ca in an interactive astronomy session I did at the 2011 Latornell conservation symposium Nov 16.
The astronomy event was attended by a total of approximately 80-100 people as part of a slate of evening activities at the symposium, which regularly attracts more than 1,000 delegates from conservation authorities from around Ontario and Canada Read more »
A month in the world’s largest “astronomy park”
Posted in Dark sky preserve tour, Dark sky preserves, Destinations, Photos on October 24, 2011 by Peter McMahon
I was feeling a bit melancholy at the end of this month – and not due to the end of the warm season here in Ontario, or the ominous approach of Halloween (which I actually really love.) I was mourning the end of what felt like one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments – Like a kid at the end of a great season of summer camp, not knowing if they’ll ever be back:
(Above: The river widens at midnight below Jasper’s Athebasca Falls (click for full-res to see the extent of stars. Image: Peter McMahon) Read more »
Moon & stars over waterfalls in Maligne Canyon
Posted in Dark sky preserve tour, Dark sky preserves, Photos on October 23, 2011 by Peter McMahon
Brian Catto, if you are reading this…See! You can get this picture!!
(Brian is Jasper National Park’s head interpreter and told me – rightly so – I was insane…well, perhaps overly-optimistic, to think I could get a shot of the water down in this canyon AND the stars above.
Turns out all I needed was the most useless lens on Earth for doing anything but shooting stars above canyons ; )
This shot of the stars & Moon over Maligne Canyon was taken just a few days before Jasper National Park and Dark Sky Preserve’s inaugural dark sky festival…
Taken with a 6.5mm fisheye lens, with a 180 Read more »
Golfing under the stars
Posted in Dark sky preserves, Events, Photos on October 16, 2011 by Peter McMahon
I’ll be honest: I don’t golf. I’ve never thought of taking up golf. The last time I played golf (not counting mini-putt on my fourth date with my wife) was also the first time.
But when I got invited to serve as Jasper National Park’s astronomy-writer-in-residence for October and put-up for the month at Canada’s #1 golf resort, I couldn’t resist posing for this picture (and maybe even getting a little more interested in this outdoor pursuit.)
While the Jasper Park Lodge doesn’t (yet) offer golfing under the stars, the resort is ramping up dark sky programming during Read more »
Thanksgiving stars in the Canadian Rockies
Posted in Dark sky preserves, Destinations, Events on October 10, 2011 by Peter McMahon
This photo, taken on (Canadian) Thanksgiving Monday shows the Big Dipper (just partially tucked behind the trees at right) and other constellations in the Canadian Rockies’ Jasper National Park (in the background at right in this shot at dusk is the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Read more »
Settling-in as Jasper’s astronomy writer-in-residence
Posted in Dark sky preserve tour, Dark sky preserves, Destinations, Events, News on October 8, 2011 by Peter McMahon
Special thanks to Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge (featured here in this Oct 7 image at right, er left, if you’re reading this on Facebook) for putting me up for the month of October while Tourism Jasper brings me in to serve as Jasper National Park and Dark Sky Preserve’s “Sky Guy in-residence”.
The newly-designated astronomy park – the world’s largest, by a factor of ten – officially opened October 1 with a gala evening on Maligne Lake. Jasper’s mayor Richard Ireland, park superintendent Greg Fenton, the president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and local MPs gave in-person and remotely-delivered speeches of congratulations. Read more »
Meteors over Canada’s shipwreck capital
Posted in Dark sky preserve tour, Dark sky preserves, Destinations, Photos on September 12, 2011 by Peter McMahon
Wrapping up our rattlesnake tour of Canadian stargazing destinations, we stopped by Bruce Peninsula National Park/Fathom Five National Marine Reserve and Dark Sky Preserve.
(Web resources at bottom of post)
Though it has fewer venomous snakes than Grasslands dark sky preserve, the ones here near the harbour town of Tobermory are a protected species (you can actually get in trouble with authorities for harming them.) Thankfully, no snakes emerged and our 20-lb mascot Winston was snuggled up in the motel far from any dangerous tall grass.
Meanwhile, local astronomy guru Rod Steinacher was kind enough to spend the night showing me around the local stargazing haunts and he did NOT disappoint! Read more »
