Help save Utah's dark skies

UPDATE: the time to comment for both parks has passed. Thank you to all of those that helped by telling the NPS to keep these parks dark! Please continue to fight light pollution.

UPDATE: the time to comment for Bears Ears has passed but the deadline for Grand Staircase is on November 30th.

Hello all, this post is a little outside of my average content, I will have a post about Mars coming in the next few days.

I wanted to take the time to compel you to comment on the future of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase National Monument. As you may be aware President Trump has signed an executive order to reduce the size of these two National Monuments. There are many reasons to be against this move (it questions the security of everything protected by the Antiques Act, it opens YOUR public lands to be used and abused for private profits, it threatens sites important to Native peoples, threatens sites rich in fossils, archaeology and our natural history), but I urge you to comment because it also threatens the amazing dark sky above these parks.

Light pollution is a major side-effect of development and human activity, it compromises health, disrupts ecosystems and spoils aesthetic environments. Opening these lands to more flexibility in use will undermine the protection these parks were to provide for visitors from the ground below your feet to the heavens above your head.

VIIRS 2018 light pollution data red=bright blue=dark skies. No Chicago did not move to North Dakota without telling anyone that large bright patch is caused by human activity and fracking.

Comments are open right now! the comment time for Bears Ears ends November 15th 2018 and for Grand Staircase it ends November 30th 2018 so comment soon!

Grand Staircase - comment here URL: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=renderDefaultPlanOrProjectSite&projectId=94706

There are plenty of resources available to help you craft a comment if you search. I found a good one here

If you want a quick template of what to say you may use this one I made:

________________________Grand Staircase_____________________________

title: protect GSENM

chapter: 2

Section: 1 A

Dear Matt Betenson and all who are concerned with the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, I wanted to take the time to comment on the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. My name is {name here} and I am concerned with the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument under the current proposed plans.

Please go forward with alternative A (current management/no action) to continue to grant the highest possible protection to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) and refrain from shrinking the monument.

I wish you to continue to grant the highest possible protection to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and refrain from shrinking the monument.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is important to me because..... {add your reasons here ( i.e. lessening protection would: threaten the amazing dark sky above Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, questions the security of everything protected by the Antiques Act, open OUR public lands to be used and abused for private profits, threaten sites important to Native peoples, threaten sites rich in fossils, archaeological and natural history)}.

Opening Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to more flexibility in use will undermine the protection Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was to provide for visitors for the ground below their feet to the heavens above their head.

I wish to compel you to do everything you can in order to protect the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument holds thousands of years of human history, over 200 million years of natural history and holds a pristine window to see over 13 billion years of history in the sky above. Let our actions today continue to preserve this history.

Thank you,

{add full name and address *they won't accept it with out personal identifying info*}

I request my personal identifying information be withheld from public review.

VIIRS 2017 light pollution map of Grand Staircase-Escalante N.M.

My comment for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is here if you wish to take from it:

On Tuesday, November 13, 2018 3:17 PM, Astrotours <astrotours@protonmail.com> wrote:

Comment Title: protect dark sky above GSENM

Comment:

Dear Matt Betenson and all who are concerned with the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, I wanted to take the time to comment on the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. My name is Luke XXXXXX I am concerned with the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument under the current proposed plans.

please go forward with alternative A (current management/no action) to continue to grant the highest possible protection to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) and refrain from shrinking the monument.

As I'm sure you've heard a number of reasons to continue to grant the highest possible protection to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument ( i.e. lessening protection would: questions the security of everything protected by the Antiques Act, open OUR public lands to be used and abused for private profits, threaten sites important to Native peoples, threaten sites rich in fossils, archaeological and natural history). I agree with all of these reasons however I am urged to comment because lessening protection would also threaten the amazing dark sky above Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument .

Light pollution is a major side-effect of development and human activity, it compromises health, disrupts ecosystems and spoils aesthetic environments. Opening GSENM to more flexibility in use will undermine the protection these parks were to provide for visitors for the ground below their feet to the heavens above their head. Shrinking the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument would diminish the ability of the monument to protect the night sky above it as human activity even 50 miles away will harm the beauty of the stars above. Currently the size of the park allows a large dark central core which is perfect for educational, research, and recreational astronomy/astrophotography.

deally I would like to see a protection zone which extends 50 miles from park boundaries where anthropogenic light is limited so that all of the park will have the same brilliance in the night sky as the central core currently experiences. However I am grateful for the protection the monument currently has and will fight any attempts to diminish this protection.

Utah's dark skies are an important asset for Utah's Economy. I am a business owner, I run AstroTours.org which provides Astronomy education services to the Colorado front range and am looking into expanding to neighboring states including Utah. I take trips to visit my public lands in Utah 2 to 4 times a year in order to take in the untouched natural beauty Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and surrounding areas have to offer both on and above their surface. I am part of a large community drawn to Utah's public lands for astronomy/astrophotography.

Not only do professional/amateur Astronomers know of the reputation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as a location with amazing stars but it's a big calling card for the general public. I have yet to find a tourist publication for Utah that lacks a shot of the milky way over the land (many of which I reconize as being taken in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument ), I have even seen large billboards in downtown Denver that feature an amazing milky way shot above the buttes of Utah. Loosing the unspoiled skies above Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will have an effect on the surrounding tourist industry.

I wish to compel you to do everything you can in order to protect the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument . Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument holds thousands of years of human history, over 200 million years of natural history and holds a pristine window to see over 13 billion years of history in the sky above. Let our actions today continue to preserve this history.

Luke Elevated Astronomy Tours, AstroTours.org Phone:303.324.5831 Email: AstroTours@protonmail.com Address: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I request my personal identifying information be withheld from public review.

Bear's ears comment time has passed thank you everyone that commented:

________________________ Bear's Ears_____________________________

Dear Lance Porter and all who are concerned with the future of Bears Ears National Monument,

I wanted to take the time to comment on the future of Bears Ears National Monument. My name is {name here} I am concerned with the future of Bears Ears National Monument.

As I wish you to continue to grant the highest possible protection to Bears Ears National Monument and refrain from shrinking the monument.

Bears Ears National Monument is important to me because..... {add your reasons here ( i.e. lessening protection would: threaten the amazing dark sky above Bears Ears National Monument, questions the security of everything protected by the Antiques Act, open OUR public lands to be used and abused for private profits, threaten sites important to Native peoples, threaten sites rich in fossils, archaeological and natural history)}.

Opening Bears Ears National Monument to more flexibility in use will undermine the protection Bears Ears National Monument were to provide for visitors for the ground below their feet to the heavens above their head.

I wish to compel you to do everything you can in order to protect the future of Bears Ears National Monument. Bears Ears National Monument holds thousands of years of human history, over 200 million years of natural history and holds a pristine window to see over 13 billion years of history in the sky above. Let our actions today continue to preserve this history.

Thank you,

{add full name and address *they won't accept it with out personal identifying info*}

I request my personal identifying information be withheld from public review.

These are your public lands. Please let them know what you think. Don't be intimidated by these documents.

Saturn

Saturn is a favorite among everyone, they say whom ever created our solar system liked it the best that’s why they put a ring on it. The days of the week are named after celestial bodies and Saturn’s day (Saturday) is also beloved by all! You’re probably thinking about it so here are the rest: Sunday = Sun’s Day, Monday = Moon’s day, (knowing Spanish helps with the others) Tuesday = martes = Mars Day, Wednesday = miércoles = Mercury’s day, Thursday = jueves = Jupiter’s day, Friday = viernes = Venus day. Seems like Earth day got a raw deal only being one day a year...

Saturn is currently appearing in the south-west between Mars and Jupiter in our evening sky it is much dimmer than both Jupiter and mars but it is brighter than the stars that surround it. If you draw an imaginary line in the sky (the line of the ecliptic) between Jupiter (the brightest star in the western sky after sunset) and mars (the brightest star in the southern sky at sunset, Mars is also visibly red) Saturn is the brightest star on this line that is a little closer to mars than Jupiter.

Saturn is currently visiting the constellation Sagittarius which can be seen below it. Sagittarius is the archer and you can see a bow with an arrow set in it. However if you tip your head to the right, Sagittarius looks like a teapot below Saturn is the triangular lid atop a trapezoidal body with a trapezoidal handle on the east side and a triangular spout on the west side. Even better if you are in a particularly dark area you can see the milky way appearing as steam coming out of the spout.

Looking south this week with the planets labeled and the "Teapot" (Sagittarius) outlined. Currently we are in the "tip me over and pour me out" phase of the Teapot's dance across the south sky.

Saturn is a true treat in binoculars or a telescope. When you first see it you might see an oval resembling a batman symbol but once you focus your eyes in to it you should see Saturn's rings resolve. Saturn never fails to get an “oh wow!” from anyone looking at it up close, the large planet suspended perfectly in the rings is a magical sight to observe with your own eyes. If you really want to test your eyes and equipment you might see ‘the Cassini Division’ which appears as a dark region that separates the bright ring in to 2 rings. The rings are made up of countless water ice particles ranging in size from the smallest speck to the size of a house.

common view of Saturn in a telescope.

Saturn like the Earth has solstices and equinoxes, and you can see them by observing the rings from year to year. Satsourn takes 30 years to go around the Sun meaning 30 earth years = 1 Saturn year. every 30 earth years Saturn has 2 solstices (i.e. summer & winter) and 2 equinoxes (i.e. spring, & fall). We see Saturn's solstices by seeing the rings tip towards us and appear to open up and we see Saturn's equinoxes by observing the rings edge on, where it’s difficult to notice the rings at all. Saturn’s last solstice occurred last year (earth year) this means saturn was tipped towards the Sun opening it’s rings as wide as can be seen. Over the next 6 or so earth years we will watch Saturn's rings tip away getting smaller and smaller until it reaches equinox where we will see the rings edge on.

When Galileo first saw Saturn's rings he of course didn’t know what he was looking at, some of his first sketches depict it with two moons (he had already discovered the moons of Jupiter making this a reasonable guess). After he caught his first glimpse he got clouded out and wasn’t able to see Saturn again, then once the clouds left Saturn was no longer in the sky (Saturn was too close to the Sun to be observed). Galileo knew about the movements of the planets by now so he waited till he could see it again and when he did the rings were no longer visible (Saturn had gone into equinox where the rings were edge on) this lead Galileo to think he had hallucinated when he first saw the rings. Saturn’s Greek god name is Κρόνος, Krónos who was a Titan that ate his children. Galileo knew this story so when he saw the “moons” next to Saturn disappear he thought just like in the myth Kronos had ate his children. He checked back over the next few years to see them open up again he never truly realized what they really were, later calling them "arms".

After taking in the rings of Saturn if you look around just of next to Saturn somewhere you should see the moon Titan. Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system (after Jupiter’s moon Ganymede) and slightly larger than even the planet Mercury. Titan is really exciting for planetary researchers as it is rich in geological processes that are alien to anything seen on Earth yet somewhat familiar. I’ll give you an example much like Earth Titan has clouds in its atmosphere and lakes on its surface however Titan’s lakes and clouds are not made of water but made of methane. It is thought that methane on titan acts much like water acts on Earth. Because Titan is so far from the sun it is much colder but these cooler temperatures make it possible to have methane as a solid, liquid, and gas. When heated methane lakes evaporate into clouds that when cooled then rain and/or snow methane back down to the surface.

The Huygens probe that was sent with the Cassini spacecraft landed on the surface of titan in 2005 and proposed missions want to go further some with a submarine to be deployed in a methane lake. Just imagine what a feat of engineering that could be to have a submarine in a methane lake on a moon of one of the most distant planets in our solar system.

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft which was purposefully burned up in Saturn's atmosphere in 2017.

As of right now I only have six shows left this year so Book Now if you want to see Saturn up close in my biggest telescopes!

Jupiter

Now that Venus is gone from our evening sky you may be noticing the other bright star that appears over the western horizon. This “star” is actually the planet Jupiter.

Jupiter is currently “in Scorpio”. You will see a bright star with a red/orange hue just a little south of Jupiter, This star is Antares. Antares is not to be confused with mars which is currently high in the south west sky much further from Jupiter (this is such a common mistake it is where Antares name came from).

Take note of the distance between Jupiter and Antares, if you want a technical measurement you may hold your arm outstretched close one eye and see how many fingers you can fit between Jupiter and Antares. If you do this over the next few months you will see Jupiter get closer and closer to Antares. The star Antares is the heart of the scorpion or Scorpio.

Scorpio you might be familiar with from the zodiac over the course of a year we can watch Jupiter move from the constellation Scorpio to the next constellation in the zodiac Sagittarius. Jupiter takes just a little less than 12 years to go around the Sun, there are 12 signs in the zodiac, Jupiter spends a year in each one!

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system at 11.6 times the size of earth in diameter (86,881 miles), making it 1,322 times the size of earth in volume. Being so massive has made Jupiter a solar system within our solar system.

Jupiter currently has 79 known moons. This number keeps increasing as recently as July of this year, 2018, we added 10 newly discovered moons to the total. We are not done adding to the number of known moons of Jupiter. Astronomers are discovering new moons of Jupiter so frequently the main trick has become making sure the newly observed moons are not the same as a moon we have previously counted.

The number of moons of Jupiter will also be changing further as new moons are likely about to be made and destroyed. Of the known objects going around Jupiter most are going the same direction but, some are going the opposite direction and just like if you go the opposite direction in a traffic circle collision is likely.

If you look at Jupiter with a decent pair of binoculars you will be able to see 4 of Jupiter's moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. These are called the Galilean Moons as they were first observed by Galileo in his small telescope. Telling them apart takes several observations over a long period of time as they are circling Jupiter and you can only see this movement edge on from Earth. To determine a moon’s true distance from Jupiter you must watch the moons to see when they stop getting further from Jupiter turn around and get closer.

All of the Galilean Moons are interesting places and studied extensively. Io is the most volcanic body in our solar system, Eropa is the smoothest body in our solar system it’s believed to have liquid water and therefore possibly life beneath it’s ice surface. Ganymede is bigger than the planet Mercury, and Callisto is the most cratered body in our solar system.

Jupiter’s moons served as one of the first standardized clocks. Jupiter’s moons movement is regular and predictable so the Royal Observatory in Greenwich calculated and published their future locations and local time (as would be shown on a sundial or pendulum clock) at Greenwich, forming the foundations for our time zones based around Greenwich Mean Time.

With a good pair of binoculars you can also see red stripes contrasted with white stripes this is Jupiter’s atmosphere. The change in coloration is caused by different compounds in the atmosphere that change color when exposed to the light of the Sun.

A really good set of binoculars or a decent telescope you can see the red spot which is an acid hurricane more than twice the size of earth that has been observed since at least 350 years ago. A day on Jupiter last about 10 hrs so over the course of a long winter night you can watch Jupiter do a full rotation by watching the great red spot do a lap around the planet.

Jupiter and the four Galilean moons as would be seen in a small telescope

If you want to see Jupiter in a really big telescope come along on one of my tours. Click here to see dates and book