234 Ranch Road 1050, Concan, TX 78838, US
Night Skies - Did you know?
Garner has a planisphere!
Look for it on the southside of the Visitor Center on the outside of the wall that hides the bathrooms. A planisphere is a rotating star chart that helps you identify stars and constellations visible in the night sky at any given time and date. It’s a classic tool for stargazers, especially useful in places like Garner State Park where dark skies make celestial navigation a joy. Dial in your date and time and have it tell you what stars are in the sky and which constellations are rising, setting, or overhead.
🧭 How It Works: It consists of two discs: the top disc has a window showing part of the sky, and the bottom disc has a star map. You rotate the discs to align the date and time, and the window reveals the stars and constellations visible overhead. It’s calibrated for a specific latitude range, so make sure yours matches your location (Garner State Park is around 29.7°N).
What’s going on in our night sky this October?
🌠 Meteor Showers: The Orionids Meteor Shower peaks around October 21–22, with a second peak night on October 26. Expect up to 20 meteors per hour radiating from the constellation Orion. Best viewing is after midnight under moonless dark skies.
🌕 Moon and Constellation Pairings: Around October 17–19, the Moon passes near Jupiter and the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus. On October 23, the Moon appears close to Saturn in the evening sky. The Orion constellation becomes prominent late in the month, rising earlier each night.
🌝 Full and New Moons: The new moons are October 1 and again on October 30, offering excellent stargazing conditions. The full moon occurs October 17, known as the Hunter’s Moon, traditionally marking the time to hunt and prepare for winter.
🌅 Sunrise and Sunset Times: October 1: Sunrise at ~7:30 AM, Sunset at ~7:15 PM. October 31: Sunrise at ~7:50 AM, Sunset at ~6:45 PM. The days shorten by about 30 minutes over the month.
🌌 Astronomical Twilight: October 1: Begins ~6:05 AM, ends ~8:40 PM. October 31: Begins ~6:25 AM, ends ~8:05 PM. This marks the period when the sky is dark enough for deep-sky observations.
🪐 Planet Visibility: Venus is visible in the pre-dawn eastern sky, shining brightly before sunrise.
Mars is low in the western sky after sunset and best seen early in the evening. Jupiter dominates the evening sky, rising in the east and visible most of the night. Saturn is also visible in the evening, slightly west of Jupiter. Mercury is difficult to spot, very close to the Sun. Uranus and Neptune are best viewed with binoculars in the early morning hours, faint but present.
You can see a lot with your naked eyes or a set of binoculars.
🔭 Look for these naked-eye highlights: the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) rises in the northeast by late evening, visible as a faint smudge. Look for the Double Cluster in Perseus, two star clusters side-by-side, visible in dark skies. Pleiades (Seven Sisters), a bright open cluster in Taurus, rises earlier each night. The Milky Way is still prominent in early October evenings, stretching across the sky from Sagittarius to Cygnus.
🔍 With binoculars look for M33 (Triangulum Galaxy) near Andromeda, faint but visible with binoculars under dark skies. Also look for the Lagoon Nebula (M8), In Sagittarius, low in the southwest early in the month, glowing softly in binoculars.
For more celestial objects to see, check out the back of a current month's sky map at the Visitor Center.
Look for a "Sky Tour" program given at the park occasionally when the skies are dark, and the weather is good. You might also listen the Sky and Telescope's monthly Sky Tour podcast. A good place to observe the heavens at the park is from the west side of the Excess Vehicle Parking Area that's just north of the Visitors Center. Stay clear of the construction work area on the southeast side.
Our skies aren't as dark as they used to be.
New neighbors, new businesses install lights to light up their properties and light up the whole Frio Canyon in the process. From the top of Old Baldy, you can see light domes of Uvalde, Hondo, Bandera, Kerrville, and yes, even Concan and Leakey. Texas towns have their light bubbles. Do us all a favor, let them know, "Illuminate only what is needed with only as much warm light as is needed." If you see lights shining upward or too bright, let's do better. If you want to continue to see stars, tell them you want and expect darker skies. We can make our skies darker.
Count the number of stars in the Little Dipper. If you can see all seven, you have a dark sky. If you can only see the end of the little Dipper's handle, the North Star (Polaris), you have a lit-up city sky.
We are working on making our skies darker.
We want to make Garner an International Dark Skies Park. Unfortunately, it isn't currently dark enough. It takes some work, a real campaign. Educating our visitors, neighbors, students, businesses, and government officials; adding light shields; updating light fixtures; measuring, recording, and reporting light readings and other progress steps; getting the right color LED's; seeing what we can do to make the skies dark again. Want to get involved in Dark Skies? Use the "Contact us" form at the bottom of the home page or call 830-232-5999.
Here is a YouTube link to an interesting presentation on keeping our skies dark in west Texas given by Steven Hummel to the Houston Astronomical Society members. It shows how the National Park Service is mapping our dark skies and measuring not just the darkness overhead but the intensity and spectrum of light all around that is being added to that of the stars, moon, planets, and weather amounts. Also note that the oil and gas industry has reduced its foot print in the Pecos area. Some installations reduced their sky glow 98%. Can we do this in the Frio Canyon as well?
You can help educate others to keep our skies dark.
Spread the word, set an example. Shine light only when and where you need it. Only shine as much as you need. Use the warmest color light to minimize light scattering. If light is needed for security or emergency purposes, use video or motion activated lighting.
Do we really need a blinding flood light lighting the heavens at every barn, parked car, business sign, steeple, or flag?
Here are a few links to answer this question:
The International Dark Sky Association's (IDA's) webpage of outreach materials.
https://darksky.org/resources/
DarkSky Texas (IDA's Texas chapter)
https://darkskytexas.org/common-sense-solutions-resources/
Hill Country Alliance webpage on preserving the night skies
https://hillcountryalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021_THC_NightSkies_Paper_FYI.pdf
Are you interested in astronomy as a hobby?
Check out this on-line article in The Buzz Magazines was published recently about amateur astronomy and features interviews with many Houston Astronomical Society (HAS) members. Joe Khalaf of HAS shared this.
Friends of Garner has a telescope
While the scope might not be a large spectacular instrument, it generates oohs and ahs when viewing Jupiter, Saturn, or the moon up in the Garner night skies.
Several astronomy clubs come to view the skies above Garner. Check the park's calendars for other star parties, often held on a warm Saturday night around the occurrence of a new moon when skies are at their darkest.
We can offer sessions to let members get familiar with this and other telescopes. After a checkout, take the scope home or to a campsite, host a park star party, or to outreach events outside the park.
Friends of Garner
Coming events:
FOG Board Meeting 10/8/25, 5pm
Holiday Open House - details to come
Trail Work Weekend - Jan 17-18 (MLK weekend)