Star Search

New Mexico is observing Dark Sky Appreciation Night on Wednesday, 10/27/04. And this year, the event coincides with prime viewing conditions — a total lunar eclipse beginning around 8:23 p.m. …

In the United States, less than 10 percent of the population can see the Milky Way. …

At Chaco Culture National Historical Park 70 miles south of Farmington, park guide GB Cornucopia said the sky is almost as dark as when ancestors of the Pueblo Indians lived there a thousand years ago. “The constellations, the moon, the planets — it’s the same sky they saw, with few changes.”

But during his 18 years at the park, the glow from Crownpoint, 40 miles to the south has increased, and increasingly he sees light pollution emanating from as far as Rio Rancho and Albuquerque. …

While the night sky is the part of the environment that has changed the least over the years, most people no longer experience it in the same way as their ancestors.

“That saddens me,” Cornucopia said. “The more light pollution we create, the less we understand the nature of the world we live in. Keeping it accessible is real important.”

Did I ever tell you about my dip into forensic photography? I was at the upper cliff dwelling at Tonto Nat’l Monument last year with a ranger when a helicopter came buzzing by. It was obviously sightseeing (pausing to look at the ruins) and the ranger was furious. Apparently, the churning air generated by a chopper is really hard on the ruins (makes sense). She asked if anyone could see its number, and although I couldn’t, I got a shot of it with my zoom lens.

When I looked at the photo later, the number was really clear. BTW, another way to tell if a digital photo is an original is to look at its EXIF info — it changes when the photo changes and basically says, oh yeah, this photo’s been modified. So I kept it in its original format and sent it to Tonto Nat’l Monument (which the ranger had asked me to do). After several months of back-and-forth with them, the superintendent of the Monument emailed me and told me they’d discovered who the helicopter belonged to and had sent them a letter requesting they not do it again. The superintendent told me he didn’t expect a response but he also thought the letter would probably do its job.

So who owned the helicopter? And why didn’t the Monument take stronger legal action?

Because it was a Justice Dept helicopter.

I didn’t make any of this up, honest.:)

Lisa

ps- Tonto National Monument is worth going to just for the beauty of the surrounding area (it’s really near Roosevelt Lake — or Lake Roosevelt, or something like that) but also they’re very different ruins from many of ours in NM. One of the photos on my website shows an old bee hive that was way high up in the roof of the cave — it’s pretty cool.

There are more pix of Tonto Nat’l Monument (and related places) on my website: http://www.newmexicophotos.com/gallery/arizona-2003