Statewide Star Party 2020: Tuesday, November 10

Join us for our virtual statewide star party! Eventbrite registration link at the bottom of the page or click the button below.

Register Now

Tuesday, November 10
7–10 pm

7 pm: The National Park Service Night Skies Program: Working to Preserve and Restore a Universal Resource

Bob Meadows | Physical scientist at the National Park Service

Scientists at the National Park Service study light and sound pollution in our country’s most remote and wild places. What can we learn from their research on how to preserve the night sky?

Bob Meadows is a physical scientist with the National Park Service, Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division (NSNSD). His current responsibilities include managing the 19 years of sky quality data from more than 125 park units, conducting measurements and assessing sky quality in the field, and working with parks to evaluate their lighting for efficiency and ecological impacts to the nighttime environment. Bob also works with other partners in the scientific community in collaborative efforts to further our mutual goals of restoration and preservation of our night skies. Bob holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from California State University, Chico. He has worked in the Night Skies Program since 2011. Prior to that his professional experience included almost 25 years working in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. He was a wilderness ranger for eight years before moving into the division of resources management and science, working in forestry, GIS, restoration, invasive plant management, fire ecology and meadow management.

8 pm: Becoming a Dark Sky Region: A Conversation with Partnerships Up North

Trevor Gibb | Superintendent of Quetico Provincial Park

Ann Schwaller | Forest program manager for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Bob DeGross | Superintendent of Voyageurs National Park

Adam Dalton | Dark Sky Places manager at the International Dark Sky Association

Four public lands are in the process of applying for Dark Sky Place status from the International Dark Sky Association: Voyageurs National Park, Quetico Provincial Park, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and La Verendrye Provincial Park. Join us in this moderated discussion with land managers from each region to learn more about the application process of becoming a Dark Sky Place and what that means.

Trevor Gibb is the superintendent of Quetico Provincial Park. He has held positions as the assistant superintendent of 29 parks in Northeastern Ontario including Polar Bear Provincial Park, and backcountry warden at Killarney Provincial Park. He has also lived in the Canadian Arctic as a high school teacher. In his spare time it is not uncommon to find him bobbing around Quetico in his old canoe.

Bob DeGross started as superintendent of Voyageurs National Park in late December 2016. He has worked with the National Park Service since 1989 in a variety of park units across the country. He is dedicated to the mission of the National Park Service, preserving and protecting the special places the agency is entrusted to care for, while also ensuring the public has the opportunity to enjoy and connect to those special places. Bob has always had a deep connection to the northern woods of the midwest, growing up reading authors such as Sigurd Olson and Aldo Leopold. Bob finds it a privilege to work at Voyageurs National Park, a place where people like Olson and many others worked diligently to protect for all to enjoy.

Ann Schwaller is currently the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness program manager on the Superior National Forest in Duluth. Ann has worked in parks and wilderness areas in Washington, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and Florida. Her jobs with these organizations included wilderness ranger, trail crew, firefighter, visitor center manager, and wilderness & recreation planner. Life before the government included freelance photographer for the Palm Beach Post, Miami Herald, University of Florida and Florida State Parks. Ann grew up on the wild and scenic Loxahatchee River in southeast Florida where most weekends were spent on the river, in the woods, or in the ocean. Ann spends her free time traveling, hiking the Superior Trail, kayaking Lake Superior and of course paddling in the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs National Park.

Adam Dalton: An Iowa native, Adam’s passion and awe of the night sky fully developed following his move to the Intermountain-West in 2016. A recent graduate of the University of Utah’s Master of City and Metropolitan Planning Program, he specialized in ecological planning and interdisciplinary sustainability. While at Utah, he worked closely with the university’s Consortium for Dark-Sky Studies to conduct comprehensive dark-sky lighting inventories for various municipalities. His main professional goal is facilitation of inclusive social justice through environmental justice. When not at work, Adam is an avid runner, outdoorsman, Minnesota professional sports fan, and the lead singer/guitarist of a punk rock band.

9 pm: Live Telescope Observing: Guest Host Mark Job

Mark Job | Member at the Minnesota Astronomical Society

Grab your star map, sit back, and enjoy a tour of the night sky – live! Virtual star parties, happening every night this week, will allow you to see the wonders of the night sky from telescopes directly broadcasted to your screens. Our team and partners around the state will take you on a tour of the night sky and show you celestial objects from our solar system and beyond!

Visit the link below to return to the 2020 Statewide Star Party main event page.

Statewide Star Party Info

Accessibility: All programs will be captioned and all keynotes will be live captioned; ASL interpreters available upon request. Please contact the accessibility office at 612-624-4268 or bellaccess@umn.edu.

Special thank you to Ruth and John Huss for their generous support.

The Statewide Star Party is funded in part by