Saturday, 22 February 2025, there was a star party at Oracle State Park, an International Dark Sky Park. The sky was clear in the late afternoon with a beautiful view of the Galiuro Mountains east of the Park.

One Park resident was happy to see people arriving at the Park.

Park Ranger Michael Bain kicked off the evening's activities and introduced Alex Moondaze who performed cosmic American soul music with a pretty sunset backdrop.

The Friends of Oracle State Park and the DarkSky Southern Arizona Chapter were on hand to provide information to Park visitors.

Shortly after sunset, members of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association began setting up their telescopes that would provide unique opportunities to Park visitors to observe planets, stars, and deep space objects. Crepuscular rays were visible in the western sky with the planet Venus becoming visible (faintly visible in the photo near to the top).

The crowd on the Kannally Ranch House patio continued to increase as the music played on and the evening become darker.

Beginning at 6:31pm, Park visitors were treated to seeing a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

After the rocket launch, observing through the telescopes began.

Park Ranger Malana Starr provided exciting views of some celestial objects using the Park's electronic telescope. Live images from the telescope were projected onto a screen outside of the Kannally Ranch House. Visitors were safely directed to the viewing area by nice red light illumination (which protects eye dark adaptation).

The last of the over 150 Park visitors left shortly after 9pm. They had a wonderful visit at Oracle State Park.

Photos by Mike Weasner

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