20230212 < Main

---+ February 10-12, 2023
*Event Type*: Special Event<br>
[[https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/death-valley-dark-sky-festival.htm][Death Valley Dark Sky Festival]]<br>

We will be assisting with the Death Valley National Park Dark Sky Festival to take place Friday-Sunday Feb 10-12.<br>
Our primary responsibilities will be to staff a booth with live demos and educational information at their Science Expo<br>
and run a star party on Saturday night with our own telescopes.  There may even be Astro on Tap at the local saloon.<br>

DVNP will provide us with gas money to cover our transportation and a campsite for each of us in the educator<br>
section of the Texas Springs campsite, adjacent to where all program activities will occur at Furnace Creek.<br>

Drive time from Caltech to Furnace Creek is about 4.5-5h depending on the route and time of day.  I would plan to leave <br>
sometime on the morning of Friday, Feb 10 to avoid traffic and provide ample time for preparing for the weekend and exploring <br>
DVNP.  [[https://goo.gl/maps/uQsiYywu2HAC9Asx6][Google maps link to Furnace Creek]]<br>

Ideally we would have 8+ people participate, which would allow for everyone to only work one "day shift" of 3h at the <br>
Science Expo and then Star Party (~2 volunteers needed at any time). The rest of the time would be open for <br>
hiking and exploring the park.  

The science demos that I thought we could operate would be (1) "Build a Comet" using dry ice to show what composes
a comet; and (2) parabolic marshmallow igniter where we show how telescopes work to collect light from the Sun and focus it.<br>
We would also probably bring the good solar telescope (Coronado half-angstrom H-alpha) to show views of the Sun.<br>

For the star party, we would bring the Dobsonians (6", 8", 10") as well as our own private telescopes.  Cameron will bring his<br>
Unistellar eVscope2, and others are encouraged to bring theirs if they want.  DVNP rangers will also have a few telescopes<br>
on hand, including a 14" Orion Dobsonian.  We can also bring some laser pointers to help point things out.<br>
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Topic revision: r1 - 2022-10-27 - OutreachAdmin