We Went To A Star Party – No Celebrities But A Lot Of Heavenly Bodies Were Present

“They’re having a star party tonight – you should go!”

Thanks to the lovely couple we met at the rest area in Big Bend National Park, we discovered that the National Park as well as Big Bend Ranch State Park were hosting an event during our stay in Terlingua, Texas.

If there’s one thing I love it’s a chance to meet members of the community we’re in and learn cool stuff. Stephen loves learning stuff too, especially when it’s free. We all loved that the event was dog friendly so that Truffles could come along too!

The Star Party was held at the baseball field near the Terlingua school. The event was the first of its kind which the parks were offering in partnership. Big shout-out to Amber (from Big Bend Ranch State Park) and Tracy (from Big Bend National Park) for hosting the evening. Both of their talks were informative, interesting and truly a new experience for us. They had a community clean-up effort in November that restored the baseball field to a usable space after years of neglect due to lack of use.

The National Park rangers brought out telescopes for the public to use. The Compadres del Rancho Grande provided food for everyone attending. The locally-based company, All Energies, provided a solar power unit so we could have power for the slide show before it got dark. It turned out that the owners of All Energies were also the hosts at our Airbnb cabin! There was a huge turn out for a first-time community event – I’d say at least 75 people were present.

As it was a relaxed community event and the first time they’d run it, the presentation started a little after the stated start time, but Amber kept us well informed as we waited for guests to arrive and for it to get dark. It’s hard to have a star party without… stars!

Amber’s presentation shared the work that both parks and the Terlingua and Study Butte communities are doing to preserve their dark skies and reduce light pollution. As you can see below, the area is the largest contiguous area of protected night sky in North America.

We were introduced to the International Dark-Sky Association. I never knew it existed and I’m so glad that I do now. I learned so much about how artificial light affects us, the ecosystems we live in and near, as well as the animals in those ecosystems. Amber mentioned that “once you see it, you can’t unsee it” and it’s so true.

Light pollution is more than just the glow you get in the sky above cities, although that’s the most obvious. That glow prevents us from seeing the night sky. But more than that, light pollution has been shown to have adverse effects beyond our inability to see the stars. I encourage you to check out what the International Dark-Sky Association is saying about light pollution.

One thing that was really obvious is that there’s a lot we can do to reduce our light usage and therefore light pollution. One of the biggest issues that I see all over now is “light trespass”. That’s light that spreads beyond the area you’re trying to light. Have you ever tried to fall asleep but a street light outside keeps shining through your blinds? That’s light trespass. See how it affects you? I’m sure your sleep isn’t nearly as good on those nights when you can’t block out that extra light.

Amber shared a slide about 5 easy ways to combat light pollution:

Another interesting fact that she shared was about safety. We light up the outside of our homes thinking that it makes us safer. In reality though, it can blind you from intruders outside in the shadows. Also, if you have your home dark, the would-be intruder has to use a light which highlights their presence. If you want to use lights outside, consider using red bulbs because those are easier on the human eye in the dark.

After Amber’s presentation had finished, we were turned over to Tracy for her talk on the night sky. Telescopes were already set up and Saturn was rising and setting very quickly. We were therefore encouraged to take a peek at it before the second talk began. We weren’t looking at it with the Hubble Telescope, so it kind of looked like a donut but it was still really cool to see.

They had a few photographers on hand to answer questions about astrophotography. I hadn’t tried it yet and asked if my camera was good enough to take pictures of the night sky and it was! They had a handy little sheet for us to take away which really helped when I took my own pictures of the night sky.

I just used the evening to enjoy the talk and watch as Tracy pointed a laser all over the night sky to show us the constellations that were visible. It was incredible. It was like being at the planetarium, but better! When her talk was over we had the chance to look in the telescopes which were pointed at various celestial bodies, like Mars, Pleiades and two stars that you can’t see with the naked eye from Earth.

The following night I went outside our cabin and captured these pictures of the Milky Way. Thank you to the photographers who attended the Star Party. It made all the difference!

The Star Party was really fun and I’m so glad we heard about it. It was a free community activity that was dog-friendly, about a really interesting and important topic that affects us all. What could be better?

I highly recommend you take a visit to Terlingua to see the night sky, check out the Parks, visit the International Dark Sky Association’s website and see what you can do to help combat light pollution or consider giving to the Compadres del Rancho Grande who support the work of Big Bend Ranch State Park.