Barring any cloud cover, Morongo Basin residents are treated to nightly displays of stars, planets and other celestial phenomena. This weekend’s Night Sky Festival celebrates these night time wonders. Reporter Heather Clisby has the details…
Hosted by the Sky’s The Limit Observatory and Nature Center and Joshua Tree Residential Education Experience, the three-day Night Sky Festival will be held over Labor Day weekend.
Now in its sixth year, the event begins on Friday, September 3, with two photography workshops. Casey Kiernan will lead one workshop in Joshua Tree National Park for a night sky light painting at Cap Rock. Additionally, Dean Delgado will lead an astrophotography workshop at the Sky’s The Limit campus.
The festival continues on Saturday, September 4, at 9 a.m. with a tour of the orrery and guided trail walks. There will be craft activities for kids and several astronomy lectures are planned for that afternoon. The lectures will be held hourly from 1 to 4 p.m. Ashley Pipkin begins with “Night Skies and the National Park Service,” followed by Keri Bean with “The Exploration of Mars – Past, Present, and Future.” The final lecturer is Dean Regas who will discuss and sign his book “100 Things to See in the Night Sky: Stargazing 101.”
There will be a Night Star Party at 7 p.m. on Saturday with 20 telescopes and astronomers to explain the night sky, in addition to live music and night sky storytelling.
The festival concludes on Sunday, September 5, where families can join Tony Soares at Luckie Park for leather pouch and arrow making. There will be guided hikes and rock scrambling through the Chasm of Doom in Joshua Tree National Park. Sunday afternoon will also feature panning for gold on the Sky’s The Limit campus with experienced miners.
For tickets and further info, visit www.NightSkyFestival.org. All activities have limited space and have sold out in past years, so consider purchasing tickets soon.
