Grand Canyon National Park To Host Virtual Stargazing Party

From hiking to boating to biking to camping, the Grand Canyon National Park is as astonishing as it gets. Descend below the rim and the sense of awe only grows. Stargazing in the Grand Canyon is also a special experience. In summer 2019, the park was designated  as an International Dark Sky Park by the International Dark-Sky Association. Every June the national park hosts &lsquostar parties&rsquo with telescopes set for free use, in addition to astronomer talks and photo workshops.

Since this year the park has closed its doors to visitors due to the coronavirus lockdown measures. The Grand Canyon Conservancy will be hosting the 30th annual Grand Canyon Star Party online. The week-long event premiered on June 13 and will go on till June 20. Every night, the national park has been releasing two videos on its Facebook Page featuring a series of lectures and live-astronomer-guided telescope viewings. While the first video generally features one of the eight speakers from the Star Party Speakers Panel, the second video shows astronomers viewing celestial objects in an hour-long stream. 

The panel consists of historians, astronomers and professors, each covering a diverse range of subjects. Speakers like astrophysicist Dr. Amber Straughn, photographer Shreenivasan Manievennan and professor of planetary sciences at University of Arizona, Vishnu Reddy can be seen gracing the screens. Beginners can also enroll for a course on astrophotography to learn about the night sky. While the presentations go live at 6pm(PDT), the second video with the start parties premieres at 7pm(PDT).

The schedule, dates and more information on the speakers and presentation is available on the website.