HARKERS ISLAND, N.C. \u2014 The Crystal Coast Stargazers\u2019 annual Star Party returned in April, giving visitors a chance to look through telescopes, learn about dark skies and hear from a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory speaker.<\/p>\n
Brandon Porter with the Crystal Coast Stargazers said this year marked the fifth anniversary of the Crystal Coast Star Party. The event was held over two nights, with attendees taking ferries out around 7:30 to 7:45 p.m. before hearing from a park ranger about Cape Lookout Lighthouse, the park\u2019s history and the night sky.<\/p>\n
Porter said the ranger also led a guided tour of the night sky using a laser pointer before visitors had time to enjoy the island\u2019s dark, quiet setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been fortunate to have this location that we can come down here,\u201d Porter said. \u201cIt has very perfect dark skies for telescope observing and looking at all types of different celestial objects.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Porter, the area\u2019s dark sky designation required a certification process that included sky measurements and checks of light fixtures around the island. The dark skies help visitors better see celestial objects through the telescopes set up during the event.<\/p>\n
Porter said about 30 telescopes were set up during the event, with some owned by club members and others brought by members of the public. The telescope viewing is free, though visitors must pay for the ferry service.<\/p>\n
The event also included solar observing during the day at the Cape Lookout Visitor Center and the Core Sound Museum. Porter said different solar telescopes allowed visitors to see the sun through different filters and views, including white light, a Herschel wedge and hydrogen alpha.<\/p>\n
While the Crystal Coast Star Party is an annual event, Porter said monthly ferry trips are scheduled through September, and the Stargazers plan to have telescopes set up for those events as well. The club also schedules monthly events at Fort Macon year-round, weather permitting.<\/p>\n
Porter said the Crystal Coast Stargazers began in 2016 with a small group meeting at Fort Macon and has grown to more than 100 members, with about 40 active members regularly attending events. He said attendance has also grown, with some events now drawing 150 to 200 people on a good night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Crystal Coast Stargazers, our primary purpose is just public outreach,\u201d Porter said. \u201cWe enjoy what we do. We love to share with the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Star Party also featured Sarah Elizabeth McCandless from NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. McCandless spoke about the Europa Clipper mission, a spacecraft launched in October 2024 and headed toward Europa, a moon of Jupiter.<\/p>\n
McCandless said the mission is focused on understanding whether Europa could be habitable.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the oldest questions I think for humanity is whether or not we\u2019re alone in our solar system or alone in the universe,\u201d McCandless said. She said Europa Clipper is one of the first steps in trying to better understand where and how life could exist elsewhere in the solar system.<\/p>\n
McCandless said Europa Clipper is designed to maximize science return while operating in Jupiter\u2019s harsh radiation environment. While some NASA missions have lasted far longer than expected, she said the radiation around Jupiter creates challenges for extending Europa Clipper\u2019s lifespan for decades.<\/p>\n
McCandless also discussed the role of Artemis and robotic spacecraft in future exploration. She said robotic missions allow NASA to explore places humans cannot yet go because they are too far away or too dangerous.<\/p>\n
She said Artemis can also inspire young people, even if they do not plan to become astronauts or work in space.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope is that even if a student doesn\u2019t necessarily want to be an astronaut, even if you don\u2019t want to work in space, you saw this really cool effort that we were able to achieve when we all worked together,\u201d McCandless said.<\/p>\n
McCandless said outreach events help make NASA\u2019s work more accessible to the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love doing public outreach,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s really, really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porter said more information about the Crystal Coast Stargazers is available through the group\u2019s Facebook page and at ccgazers.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARKERS ISLAND, N.C. \u2014 The Crystal Coast Stargazers\u2019 annual Star Party returned in April, giving visitors a chance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[79,193],"class_list":["post-798242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}