Lassen Volcanic National Park Dark Sky Festival

This past weekend NASA and astronomy geeks gathered in Lassen Volcanic National Park four hours from the Bay Area for the Dark Sky Festival and the Perseid meteor shower.

During the day, experts from NASA Ames Research Center and other astronomy groups shared their knowledge of the Milky Way, Mars, and the universe with visitors of all ages. As the sun fell behind the mountains, visitors gathered for the nightly ranger-programs. This weekend, experts from NASA took over the programs and talked about subjects like how Mars, Earth, and Mt. Lassen are similar and how the dinosaurs became extinct following an asteroid/comet impact. And for those late-night owls bundled up in blankets, even a tour of the constellations that shined brightly in the darkness.

Across the road from the Sulfur Works, where one can see a boiling mud pot just feet from the roadway, NASA staked out a spot and offered visitors an assortment of materials and knowledge .

In the parking lot of Bumpass Hell, telescopes followed the sun and gave visitors a chance to see sun spots and solar flares radiating from the sun.

David De Marais gave an attention grabbing talk about what scientists believe Mars was once like billions of years ago, a planet with water and life. He mentioned that the volcanic activity of Mars may have submerged water below the surface and created the red crust surface that we see today. He even predicted that Earth could look the same way in some 6 billion years.

As the dark sky appeared, fifty miles east of Red Bluff and far enough away from light pollution, the stars glowed brightly as meteors from the Perseids flew across the sky. Using a modified SUV equipped with a telescope that any astronomy geek would drool over, crowds gathered around a flat screen television for a constellation tour that included both real images and beautiful processed images of stars and galaxies.

Even the Milky Way was visible with the naked eye.

One of the things repeated throughout the weekend was the problem of light pollution. City lights make viewing stars hard, hiding anything fainter than the brightness stars. Away from the city lights, one can see a lot more stars. A substantial amount of light from the city is wasted energy and unproductive.

Visitors left Lassen Volcanic National Park with an appreciation of the dark sky and ways each one could change to once again see the stars that could foster life on another planet.