Comment on this storycomment
revision
An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the location as Sky Meadows. It’s called the Great Grasslands. This story has been fixed.
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia — Under a dark night sky Friday night, silence fell over the roughly 600 diners spread out on the lawn and benches of the Shenandoah Skyland Amphitheater, as ranger Danny Goodman unveiled a slideshow about the history of stargazing. He talks about Galileo, the constellation in the prehistoric French cave paintings of Lascaux, and the Greek mythological figure for whom the stars are named.
Then around 10 p.m., I turned off the projector, pulled out a green laser pointer, and painted “Whoa!” from the audience as he directs the instrument’s line of green light at the stars that make up the figures of a bear (Ursa Major and Minor), a teapot (Sagittarius), and a swan (Cygnus).
As the occasional cloud covered the stars, Goodman took advantage of the crowd’s energy to clear the sky: “I want this cloud to dissipate, so everyone explodes!”
As the crowd craned their necks at Cygnus as it flew through the Milky Way, a shooting star flashed across the sky, to the right of its green laser beam… and the audience burst into unison with shocking delight: “Oh!!! “
A large crowd gathered in the amphitheater for the Stars Gala on the first night of Shenandoah National Park Night Sky Festival. Park officials estimate around 2,000 people will turn up this weekend for the event, which launched in 2015 and is held annually during the Perseid meteor shower. This year’s festival – the first full-fledged event since 2019 after the pandemic was stopped – coincides with the peak of the Perseids.
The Perseids, which hurtle across the sky at 37 miles per second from mid-July to late August, were created by trails of dusty debris left behind. Komet Swift-TuttleIt orbits the sun every 133 years, says NASA, and last crossed the solar system in 1992.
Comet debris heats up when it encounters friction from Earth’s atmosphere and ignites. The Perseids – named after the constellation Perseus, from which the meteor seems to have originated – are best seen in the Northern Hemisphere in the pre-dawn hours, although it is possible to see them as early as 10 p.m.
How to see the Perseid meteor shower this weekend, best of 2023
The Night Sky Festival is celebrated at various locations in the park from Friday to Sunday, and is free with admission to the park. Events include talks by veteran astronauts, NASA and national park experts as well as amateur astronomers on topics ranging from defending Earth from rogue asteroids to America’s largest known star. crater effect under the Chesapeake Bay.
Ranger-led star parties take place every night, but the real party begins after 11:00 p.m. when the parakeets are most visible. When the Perseids reach their peak on Saturday night, tens to nearly 100 bright stars will appear per hour under a dark, clear sky, according to NASA.
After Goodman’s talk Friday night, the group of cars left the runway and sped up Skyline Drive past deer grazing on the side of the road to mile 51, where skygazers head up the bumpy gravel road of Big Meadows and the sky can be seen from horizon to horizon. Couples, families, and groups of friends set up their cameras on tripods and sit on blankets and lawn chairs for a night of stargazing together.
Occasional grunts are heard as newcomers join in and accidentally turn on their lightbulbs – momentarily blinding the others, who have to reaccustom their eyes to the darkness. But most people enjoy the darkness and relaxation in starry bliss while listening to the friendly chatter around them.
“This is the first time we have come to Big Meadows to see a meteor shower. It’s so exciting,” said Claire Chen, 35, from Potomac City, Maryland, who came with her husband, 5-year-old daughter and friends. . “I’ve seen some cool stuff—about five or six, that’s great.”
The sound fades after midnight, as sleepy stargazers hang out in Big Meadows into the early hours of Saturday, hoping to find another shooting star. The Persians did not let them down.
Some of these appear as short lines at the edge of the viewer’s peripheral vision. Others are much brighter – fireballs created by larger particles that leave green trails across the sky.
Marco Heidecker, 33, who is originally from Germany but lives in Silver Spring, has been doing astrophotography as a hobby and has traveled to dark sky locations around the world.
He focused on taking pictures, he missed seeing most of the night stars.
“I saw two,” he said with a laugh. “I wish I recorded it with my camera.”
This was his third visit to Shenandoah, and his second to Big Meadows.
“It’s a good place because it’s dark on the east coast,” he said. “It really is one of the best dark skies near Washington.”
2023-08-13 02:06:38
#Shenandoah #Night #Sky #Festival #celebrates #peak #Perseid #meteor #shower
