Dark sky star party April 10, Mojave National Preserve

Many of you who have enjoyed visiting our telescopes in the city wonder what it would be like away from the city. Folks who grow up and live in Los Angeles rarely get to see a true dark sky. We love to have people join us for dark sky excursions, but our favorite location in the Colorado Desert south of Joshua Tree could be considered "inhospitable" by many. In less than two weeks, on April 10, we'll be having a dark sky event with the Mojave National Preserve Conservancy. Free camping will be available at the Black Canyon Group Campground, and the MNPC is planning to provide drinks and light refreshments. Mojave National Preserve is a beautiful place with fabulous dark skies. We'll be bringing our biggest and best telescopes to introduce you to the galaxy clusters of spring in the early evening, and the Milky Way towards midnight. You can enjoy great desert walks during the day, and starry skies through the night. The event is listed here at the Mojave National Preserve web site: http://www.preservethemojave.org/events.html On the site you'll see a link to Mike Cipra to RSVP if you'd like to attend: mcipra(a)npca.org There's also a link to my blog about a previous trip to MNP last year with a group of herpetologists: http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2009/04/26/snakes-tortoises-and-stars/ The location is about 200 miles from our home in Monrovia, and is an easy drive on good roads for the whole distance. The weather is quite variable, and as always, if it's cloudy or too windy we won't be able to set up telescopes. The odds are pretty good to have clear dark skies. Be sure to bring warm clothing for the evening in several layers. We always travel with hats and gloves even for mid-spring observing. Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la