234 Ranch Road 1050, Concan, TX 78838, US
Night Skies - Did you know?
What’s going on in our night sky this May?
- On the evening of May 5-6 the Eta Aquarids meteor shower will peak. They began in late April and will be occurring until late May. See if you can see some of these. The radiant, the point in the sky where the meteors originate, is the constellation Aquarius, which will be on the eastern horizon near dawn.
- On May 4th and 5th will show the moon, Mars, and M44 (Beehive Cluster) in conjunction.
- The full moon is on the 12th and is called the Flower Moon.
- Look for it near the star Antares. . On May 26th is the new moon. This allows for some great star viewing with dark skies towards the end of the month.
- On May 1st, the skies get completely dark at 9:42 pm CDT. Morning light starts arriving at 5:29 am CDT. By May 31st, skies get fully dark at 10:08 pm CDT and darkness begins to fade at 5:05 am CDT. Check out the different sunrise and sunset times for Garner State Park at timeanddate.com. You will see planets: From a high viewing point, Mercury may be visible at sunrise through early May; Venus will be an morning star through May. Mars will be setting just after midnight; Jupiter will be setting mid-evening; Saturn rises at sunrise in May. And if you have binoculars or a telescope, Uranus (mag 5.8) is setting just after sunset early in May and rising just after sunrise in late May. Dim Neptune (mag 8) is unseeable, rising at morning twilight.
You can see a lot with your naked eyes or a set of binoculars.
Start your May evenings by looking directly overhead in the evening sky and you will see the Big Dipper emptying its cup over your head. Look for the Spring Triangle, a narrow triangle of stars in the eastern sky made of Regulus in Leo, Arcturus in Boötes, and Spica in Virgo. Later in the night, look for the Milky Way to take center stage across the sky! With binoculars, look for the constellation Coma Berenices. It's in between Boötes and Leo, pretty much directly overhead in the evening sky. There you will see an open star cluster, the "Hair of Berenice", a globular cluster M53, and maybe some galaxies if the sky is dark and a small telescope is used. Also look for M3, a globular cluster found in Scorpius. 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 to Sky and Telescope's monthly Sky Tour podcast. A good place to observe the heavens at the park is from the Excess Vehicle Parking Area. It's just north of the Visitors Center.
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. Interested in volunteering? 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 that is being added to that of the stars, moon, planets, and weather amounts. Also note that the oil and gas industry has reduced it's foot print in the Pecos area. Some installations reduced their skyglow 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 Notices & Updates
Come check out the updates in the Visitor Center!
Coming events:
FOG Board Meeting 5/14/25, 5pm
Summer Hayrides