Wall Street Journal highlights Texas Dark Skies

Finding fun outdoor activities with good SD (social distancing) potential is challenging. Last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal offered a suggestion; head to the great outdoors and look at the night sky. In “The New Pandemic Hobby: Gazing at the Stars,” WSJ points out that the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) now designates more than 60 Dark Sky locations in the United States; Fifteen of them are in Texas.

The Texas portion of the WSJ story focuses on The Big Bend Area, including both Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park, which are not only super dark, but jointly boast more than one million acres of outdoor SD elbow room. The story also touts the McDonald Observatory which, though closed to on-site visits, has several live streaming astronomy programs to choose from. https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/visitors/livestream

Not mentioned in the WSJ story: Of the 15 Dark Sky sites in Texas, there are now five communities including – of course – Wimberley Valley. Signs acknowledging our Dark Sky status are at all highway entrances to Wimberley, with similar signs in the works for Woodcreek entrances.

Star Party alert. Blue Hole Regional Park and the Wimberley Valley Dark Sky Committee will host a live (in person) social distancing Star Party on Oct. 17. Telescopes in the park will stream live star and planet images to the park’s large movie screen, so no one has to touch or look through a telescope eyepiece.

The party will make use of 10-foot SD circles, each big enough for eight guests. Circles will be 10 feet apart, with designated one-way routes – masks required on the routs – to enter and leave the viewing area. Watch for more news on the Star Party here in the View and on the Facebook page for Blue Hole Regional Park and Wimberley Valley Dark Sky.

To read the WSJ star gazing story, Google search “Wall Street Journal Stargazing,” and click on “The New Pandemic Hobby: Gazing at the Stars”