On Saturday, 13 April 2024, there was another special event at Oracle State Park, our local "International Dark Sky Park". The sky began clearing over beautiful Oracle State Park in the late afternoon.

Oracle State Park was honored with a special talk by Dr. David H. Levy. Park Ranger Ethan Finch introduced David to a packed Kannally Ranch House living room. David provided an entertaining and inspirational talk about his writing, personal astronomy adventures, his recent Total Solar Eclipse experience, favorite poems, and his comet discoveries, including his discovery along with Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1993 and the BIG HIT it made on the planet Jupiter in 1994.

David's talk was followed by Mike Weasner honoring the 10th Anniversary of the formation of the Oracle Dark Skies Committee in April 2014 to prepare the "International Dark Sky Park" application for Oracle State Park. Several past members of the Committee were in attendance.

David was then available to sell and autograph his latest book Clipper, Cosmos, and Children: Finding the Eureka Moment.

Later, Mike Weasner presented David with a special personal gift to go along with the Oracle State Park mug and pin he received at the end of his talk.

Sam Miller of the DarkSky Southern Arizona Chapter was on hand to educate visitors about the importance of protecting the night sky.

After sunset, park visitors enjoyed views of the crescent Moon, Jupiter, nebulae, and galaxies through telescopes provided by members of the Tucson Amateur Astromomy Association (TAAA). They also enjoyed being under a nice dark sky with many stars visible. There were many young people and children who were part of the 151 visitors for the star party.

A SpaceX Starlink satellites train passed over Oracle and through the constellation of Orion, thrilling the visitors.

Click to view video

Mike Weasner demonstrated how to photograph the Moon through a telescope to some of the visitors. This photograph was taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max handheld over a telescope eyepiece.

Thanks once again to TAAA for supporting the event.

Photos, unless otherwise credited, by Mike Weasner

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