(This article originally appeared in the Q2 2005 STAR news letter. -I)

Grand Canyon Star Party 2005

Conducted by the Tucson and Phoenix Astronomy Clubs

by Jerry Zerbock

This year, I finally made it. Casting aside back and other pains, I called up the above operators, loaded the little Golf, and headed out west. It’s not a strenuous drive; Tennessee through Texas has a 70 mph limit, beyond that just put the autopilot on 80 and roll. Going west in summer, one can easily drive 14 hrs/day, which got me to Meteor Crater by the second evening. Taking a tour of the crater and Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff filled most of the third day, and then it’s only a few hours to the Canyon. From previous experience I had opted for the North Rim, which is 200 miles extra but much less crowded.

The star party is an open, public education affair. The club members contribute public lectures and solar viewing during the day and stargazing at night, the park in turn contributes free access to the park and a generous number of campsites. Setup in the north is on the porches of the lodge directly at the rim with an incredible view south across the canyon; in the south it’s the main parking lot plus another, more remote site. We had between six to ten telescopes each night, depending on participation, which were too many to navigate in between, and not enough to reduce the queuing in front of each. The South Rim had to deal with ten times [!] more telescopes, so many in fact, that they approached the saturation point of more instruments than they had room for.

The sky after 10:30 pm was incredibly dark – I mean black – with mostly good seeing and somehow more stars then a mag. 6 star atlas shows. Yes, there was some muck on the horizon, but Omega Centauri shone through. Both we easterners as well as the European visitors in the park were duly impressed and they mobbed the scopes to take a look. They did that in spite of frigid temperatures of 35-42 at night and only 25 deg more during the day. Wearing a down jacket and winterized pants is not being overdressed on a windy night. After all, one is here at 2500 m altitude.

Towards midnight the visitors turned in; we were cold and exhausted from talking and answering questions. Private observing at that late hour looked no more appealing.

Amenities: The North Rim has a well-stocked camp store, a rather expensive but good restaurant, a deli/cafeteria with very reasonable prices and hot chocolate for Jerry, cottages for non-campers, public showers and a coin laundry. There are plenty of opportunities for day trips and hiking. Did I mention the condors?

Would I do it again? The sky alone is worth it; add to that the scenery and you see me plotting for perhaps a couple of days at the canyon again. Then I’d drift off to one of the more open parks like Arches, Canyonlands etc that have fewer amenities, but are quieter and have a better horizon. Our pale blue or pink night skies can wait.