BLM Taos Field Office hosts star party

On the evening of October 7, 2023, El Valle Astronomy Club of Taos County came to the Wild Rivers Visitor Center to set up their telescopes for the public to view the stars. Five astronomers set up their scopes in the Visitor Center parking lot, focusing in on planets, galaxies, star clusters, and nebulas. The evening began with an introduction by spokesperson for the club Colin Nichols. Colin discussed how to find heavenly bodies by using certain markers. In all, there were 50 members of the public, five astronomers, and three BLM staff/volunteers in attendance.

Mr. Nichols answered questions and showed a video on the Hubble and James Webb telescopes. Once the sky became dark enough, participants walked down the red lit sidewalk (to keep our night vision) to look into the telescopes. Each astronomer found a particular heavenly body and announced, “Does anyone want to see the Andramada Galaxy?”, “Does anyone want to see Jupiter?”, “Does anyone want to see M31?” Participants would line up at the telescope of their choosing and look into the eye piece. One telescope had a three-foot diameter mirror and was ten-feet tall. A climb up a ladder was required to look into the eye piece.

A sighting noticed by one of the astronomers was quite unusual. We were able to see the shadow of one of Jupiter’s moons passing in front of the planet (known as a ‘transit’). This was confirmed in a photo taken by Phil Poirier with his setup that included a high-powered photo lens connected to a computer, connected to his telescope, and recorded via photo on an iPad. Mr. Poirier was generous enough to send us (and give us permission to use) other photos that were taken the night of the Star Party.

According to BLM Wild Rivers Park Ranger Tim Long, “The photographs are truly amazing, and it was a wonderful evening of star gazing. The BLM thanks El Valle Astronomy Club for taking the time to share their time and knowledge with us.”