By Jim Manning
We picked three weekends over the summer near the time of new moon to present public sessions at locations in the park on Friday and Saturday nights. The location chosen for the June and July weekend sessions was Madison Junction about 12 miles east of the park's west entrance at West Yellowstone, Montana. The observing site was located just west of the amphitheater used for ranger talks in the evening, in the meadows where the Firehole and Gibbon rivers join to form the Madison, (which some miles downstream joins with the Gallatin and Jefferson to form the Missouri River), in the shadow of National Park Peak, where it is reputed that, in the 1870's, influential early "tourists" decided that such wonders should be preserved for the public's enjoymentleading to the designation of Yellowstone as the world's first national park a few years later. Though this peak blocked some of the southwestern horizon, the "springline" otherwise was quite low and acceptable for good sky viewing. And the clarity and darkness of the sky here proved to be excellent.
The second location employed for the Labor Day weekend was the shore of Yellowstone Lake at the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center, on the north end of the lake near to where the Yellowstone River emerged to carve a great canyon downstream and to give the park its name. The forested shore made the northern horizon view a little high, but the view south across the lake was flat-horizoned and dark. Of course, there are potential "hazards" to observing in the dark in wild animal country (as much from what these animals leave behind as from the animals themselves), but the locations were near to campgrounds or visitor centers, and the local fauna steered clear of the unusual "herds" of sky observers mucking about on observing nights.
In the months prior to the summer sessions, once we achieved an agreement-in-principle with Yellowstone interpretation officials, we negotiated a collaborative arrangement. The park agreed to do the following: 1) waive the vehicle entrance fee for those conducting the sessions, 2) suggest observing sites (which were subsequently scouted by us for logistical and observing suitability), 3) help us to secure campsites for those conducting the sessions through Amfac, the private company which manages the sites, 4) accept a brief article to be placed in the park's summer newspaper (offered to every park visitor) to advertise the sessions, and 5) secure the cooperation of their rangers in announcing the sky observing sessions during the ranger talks which just preceded the sessions at the observing sites.
For our part, we agreed to: 1) pay the campsite fee of $15 per night per site (each site accommodating two vehicles), 2) provide the article for the newspaper, 3) bring the telescopes and expertise, 4) conduct the sessions, and 5) not try to sell anything.
One of our important objectives was to circulate both word of the sessions and the museum within and near the park as much as we could. The brief article in the park newspaper was key to this strategy; it offered the opportunity for people visiting the park on those weekends to notice it and consider attending, and served the added function of putting the museum's name in front of visitors throughout the summer even when observing sessions weren't being held. For the second and third weekends, we distributed flyers announcing that weekend's sessions to hotels in West Yellowstone and to lodges, campgrounds, RV parks, and information stations throughout the park. At the sessions themselves, we distributed summer star maps which included museum location and contact information, and a museum rack card which included a thumbnail map showing how to get there. For the second and third weekends, we added a "two-for-one" coupon giving two admissions to the Taylor Planetarium for the price of one, as a tracking device to see how many might make it the 90 miles north to our facility. (Actually, we found that relatively few coupons made it back to us, and have lots of possible thoughts as to why: we reached limited numbers, some people had already visited, some just weren't heading in our direction and couldn't/didn't change their plans, shifting tourist "migration" routes in recent summers seem to bring fewer people naturally through Bozeman, etc. But we're not giving up, and will probably try additional tracking strategies if we do this again.)
On observing weekends, museum staff and astronomy club members recruited for the sessions stayed in adjacent campgrounds and had the run of the park by day. At nightfall, we assembled our telescopes (with apertures ranging from four to 20 inches) at our appointed sites and waited for the stars. The nightly ranger talks at our sites began about 9:30 p.m., with the observing sessions following at about 10:30 or 10:45about the time it began to get truly dark at the latitude of the park in summer. After the rangers were done, we typically took a moment to say a few words of introduction, offer a few safety tips about wandering around in the dark and using flashlights and keeping warm, handed out star maps and museum information, and led people out to where the telescopes were set up.
The scopes were typically aimed at a variety of objectsthe crescent moon before it set, planets, and deep-sky objects, with an operator at each to keep the telescope aimed and to answer questions and generally aid the observers. We also conducted sky orientation using focused-beam flashlights as pointers to delineate constellations and relate stories about them, focusing especially on Native American sky myths. After an hour or twoaround midnightthe crowd would thin to a few diehards plus the telescopists, who would then putter about the sky at their leisure until the wee hours, taking advantage of the glorious skies before turning in to the occasional yip of a coyote or bleat of an ungulate somewhere in the darkness.
The results of the experiment were gratifying:
1) We had excellent viewing. The June and July weekends gave perfect, black skies. The first night of the Labor Day weekend was a cold and rainy washout, but the second offered tolerable observing under a windy but clearing sky. So we were able to observe on five out of six nights.
2) We had good crowds, in our estimation. Despite the necessary late start of the sessions, we served an estimated 100 people per night for the June weekend. In July, with more extensive advertising, a seemingly greater awareness of the sessions on the part of park staff by that time, and perhaps more people in the park, the numbers rose to 200-300 per night. The Labor Day weekend with its cold, wet weather and less accessible observing site produced a hardy 50 or so for the second night. Acceptable numbers, given all of the factors. Anecdotal inquiries revealed that many attendees were indeed alerted by the newspaper article or the flyers we distributed.
3) Moreover, the crowds we got were enthusiastic. People were very appreciative of the chance to view the sky with people to guide them, and to see celestial objects through everything from an Astroscan to a 20-inch truss-tube Dobsonian reflector which offered stunning views of such objects as M13's star-swarm and the Whirlpool Galaxy with its wound-up arms. Anecdotes again offered useful insights. A lady from Virginia learned of the sessions on the park web site and planned her vacation to coincide with our June observing session. We heard of several people who extended their stays in the park or at campgrounds near our sites in order to participate. One woman drove all the way up from Jackson, Wyoming for a session because it was the closest accommodation she could find.
A particularly heart-warming episode involved a young deaf boy and his mother who joined us one night. After guiding the boy to the eyepiece of the big 20-inch, we would shine our red-filtered flashlights on him and his mother so they could communicate with each other and his mother could tell us what he saw. His descriptions of celestial objects were delightful: through his excited, swiftly-signing fingers, we saw the Hercules cluster as a cloud of snowflakes and the Whirlpool as a swirling dance of light.
4) The sessions drew widely. Anecdotal inquiries showed that we received visitors to the sessions from West Yellowstone and virtually every major accommodations center within the park.
5) Even the rangers came. We found many park personnel among the crowd, off-duty and eager to see and learn something about the part of the park that lay straight up.
6) We suffered no casualties.
We concluded that the public sky observing sessions clearly provided a valued experience for park visitors. Further, we found that the sky orientation portion of the experience was as popular as the telescope viewing. Many people seemed as eager for the chance to have constellations they couldn't find at home pointed out to them, and to hear the old star stories, as they were to get a good view of the Ring Nebula through a scope.
The pilot project experience also taught us some useful lessons:
1) Start early. We began trying to connect with park officials in January to begin the project in Juneand it took every bit of the five to six months lead time to negotiate the collaboration and make the arrangements. Remember that national parks are part of the government, and are not free of the busy-ness, delays, and red tape that exist in other parts of the government.
2) Scout sites in advance. A site that works well for park officials might not automatically work well for sky observing; we're looking at different issues. As it turned out, the Madison site (suggested by the park) worked out better in many ways than the Fishing Bridge site (which we suggested ourselves)but I'm glad we checked out both of them in advance, so we knew what we were getting into at each location.
3) Be patient and persistent. Again, there's plenty of government red tape even in the park system. We worked with good people, but they were busy people with rules to follow, and we had to keep after them a bit and practice tact and diplomacy to move the project forward. This was extra work for them, and the extra effort and sensitivity to their role paid off.
4) Be flexible and proactive. Again, that red tape. For example, we found that park personnel awareness didn't seem high for the June sessions, and we wanted to improve that and to increase attendance generally at the July sessions. To increase awareness at park information stations and to circulate the word better, we asked if we could put up notices on park bulletin boards. We encountered lots of reasons why that wasn't possiblethe boards were needed for the park's many regulations, the bulletin boards weren't big enough to accommodate other notices, etc. So we just said okay and produced the flyers which we distributed to lodges, campgrounds, concessionaires, and under park personnel noses at information/activity desks. And both personnel awareness and attendance increased notably. It helped.
5) Maintain connections. We found it important to touch base with the parks' interpretation division people on a regular basis as our plans unfolded. We made efforts to meet them personally when opportunities arose, encouraged them to attend our sessions (which some of them did), and we plan to continue to cultivate a professional relationship now that the summer sessions are over. We hope that by maintaining connections, we can encourage future collaborations.
6) Recruit local astronomy clubs for help. Our planetarium staff is small, and we couldn't have pulled off the pilot project without significant help from local amateur astronomers. Members of the Southwest Montana Astronomical Society centered in Bozeman and the Great Falls astronomy club in particular provided telescopes and man- and woman-power necessary for the project to be a success. These people are important community resources, and collaborations with them are as important as collaborations with park personnel.
In conclusion, planetarians are busy enough people managing the indoor universe without trying to manage the outdoor universe as well. So why are such outdoor efforts important or valuable to undertake? The reasons are legion; here are just five:
1) It spreads the gospel. And the gospel of the universe needs all the spreading it can get; what better venue than the real sky?
2) It offers people a valued experience. It's great to see a really good planetarium program, or read a really good astronomy book, or watch a really good TV program on the cosmos. But there's nothing quite like putting your eye to a telescope and knowing that if your arm were long enough, you could reach up and touch a star. For real.
3) It provides visibility for your facility. Let's face it; not everyone is going to come to us. Sometimes we have to go to them. If they like what they see, then they may come to us later.
4) It promotes collaborations. It's becoming more and more important for the survival of entities like planetariums and museums to ally themselves with other entities in useful projects and efforts. It provides cover, spreads risk, offers greater visibility and expanded opportunities, and sometimes even coughs up additional funds. It helps.
5) It's just plain ripping good fun.
And next year? Our report to the Yellowstone folks on the outcomes of the pilot project is written and sent and is no doubt sitting in some busy person's file box waiting for my patient, persistent, flexible, and proactive efforts to maintain connections and bring it forward, to get them thinking about what we might do for next summer. If we can recruit additional astronomy club members and find a way to manage the campsite fees (perhaps by offering special staff-only star parties in return for some consideration on fees), and if the Yellowstone people thought it went as well as we thought it did, then we'd like to try it again for the summer of 2000 and perhaps expand the number of weekends to spread the gospel a little farther. We've also tried to sweeten the deal with an offer to do some staff development in sky interpretation for the park, so that rangers will be able to offer people a bit of a look up potentially on any clear night, not just the nights when we're around.
We'll see how it goes, but we're hopeful that we've begun a mutually beneficial relationship which can continue into the future. For natural parks hold many valuable resources: forests and rivers, wildlife and unique features worth preservingsuch as the sputtering geysers and hot springs of the Yellowstone wilderness. But these places offer another resource as well: a beautiful night sky. And when the sun sets on all of those other resources, that's when we who interpret that sky find our role. We can break out our big pointing flashlights, set up our telescopes, and get people to look up at the greatest natural resource of all: the universe that wheels over our heads on every night of our lives. It's God's Work. So find a little bit of God's Country somewhere, go forth and enlighten!
