Jasper is world renowned for its stunning landscapes, but this weekend the mountains and glaciers will be outshone by scenery that鈥檚 a little more celestial.
At a community meeting Oct. 16 Tourism Jasper aimed to inform locals about what鈥檚 going on during the Dark Sky Festival this weekend.
Parks Canada representative Roger Gruys explained the unique circumstances that allow Jasper to host such a festival.
鈥淎lberta is pretty much a lost cause when it comes to light pollution,鈥� he said, explaining how lights cloud the view of the night sky in most of the province.
Jasper National Park, however, is one of the few places that has large areas that are 鈥渢ruly dark,鈥� with zero light pollution.
Hemmed in by mountains, with large swaths of land filled with nothing but natural wilderness, Jasper is a fantastic place to see the stars.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing that tells light pollution to go away like a [giant] mountain,鈥� joked Peter McMahon, Jasper鈥檚 鈥淪ky Guy鈥� in residence for the month of October.
He explained how truly dark skies allow people to appreciate the stars on a higher level.
鈥淓veryone鈥檚 seen the Milky Way, but there are structures and stars that are only visible with no light pollution,鈥� he said.
Until the park lost its title to Wood Buffalo National Park a few months ago, Jasper was the world鈥檚 largest dark sky preserve; bigger than all the others in the country combined, McMahon said.
Although no longer the largest, JNP remains the most accessible preserve.
It was the park鈥檚 dark conditions, combined with its ability to spread dark sky messages to the millions of tourist who pass through, that convinced the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada to give Jasper the designation three years ago.
That year Tourism Jasper started the Dark Sky Festival, and since then they have talked up the dark sky preserve designation.
By bringing in science celebrities like science journalist Jay Ingram and renowned night sky photographer Yuichi Takasaka, Tourism Jasper hopes to de-mystify astronomy, making the night sky more accessible to 鈥渢he polar fleece crowd鈥� of casual stargazers.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need to have a big telescope; you don鈥檛 need to have a PhD in astronomy to enjoy the night sky,鈥� Gruys said.
And while peering through telescopes will be top of the list for many this weekend, a host of astronomy-themed events and dinners, including a bottle rocket launch, planetarium and a host of fascinating talks from big names in the astronomy world should keep both the casual stargazer and hardcore space enthusiasts entertained.
Trevor Nichols
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