Join us as we Highlight The Starlight for the 10th annual dark sky festival!

Sequoia Parks Conservancy, in partnership with the National Park Service, is excited to announce the much-anticipated Dark Sky Festival set to return to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The festival celebrates the beauty and wonder of the night sky while raising awareness about preserving dark skies. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, renowned for its towering sequoia trees and breathtaking vistas, also boast some of the darkest skies in the United States and are among the few places left in California to experience natural darkness making this event an unforgettable celestial experience for visitors and stargazers alike. Normal park entry fees apply. However, the Dark Sky Festival activities and speaker sessions are free and open to the public.

The festival will offer a keynote address and engaging educational presentations to foster a deeper understanding of astronomy and the importance of preserving natural darkness. Families and individuals of all ages will have the chance to engage with astronomy enthusiasts, scientists, and park rangers, learning about the significance of reducing light pollution to safeguard the pristine dark skies within the national parks and their communities. The festival will conclude with star parties in areas throughout the parks, including Potwisha in the Foothills, Wuksachi near Lodgepole, and Big Stump in Grant Grove.

Keynote Speaker:

Dr. Cameron Hummels is an astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. His research uses supercomputers to simulate how galaxies like our own Milky Way form and evolve over the billions of years since the Big Bang. In addition to his science, Cameron is extremely passionate about public science education. He acts as the Director of Astrophysics Outreach at Caltech, organizing and speaking at dozens of events across California each year. He has served as the scientific advisor on several popular films such as the recent Disney movie “Crater,” and his science explanations have been featured in numerous media including the LA Times, CNN, CBS, and NPR. This fall, Cameron will serve as the Astronomer in Residence at the Grand Canyon for six weeks, where he will help park visitors to understand and appreciate the beauty and science of the objects in our night skies.

Beyond astronomy, Cameron spends much of his free time trail running and backpacking in the Sierra, Death Valley, and San Gabriel regions of California. In 2019, he through-hiked the entirety of the Pacific Crest Trail from Canada to Mexico, and last year he set a world record for the fastest unsupported backpacking trip across Death Valley. The wilderness night sky lends a sense of wonder that continually inspires Cameron to pursue an understanding of humanity's place in the universe and to share it with the public.

Artist:

Eric Tan is an Illustrator and Graphic Designer based in Los Angeles. He grew up in San Diego, California on a steady diet of Disney animated films, Star Wars action figures, and Marvel comics.

Eric’s passion for art led him to attend the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California where he majored in Graphic Design and Packaging. After college, Eric joined the creative team at Disney Consumer Products where he produced art and design for merchandise for over 20 years. Over that span, Eric has worked on projects involving Mickey & Friends, Disney Classics, Pixar, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Disney Live Action, Disney Parks, and Lucasfilm. He is currently a freelance artist, working from home with the family cat, Ramona.

Eric’s hobbies include woodworking, gardening, collecting tiki mugs, riding bikes with his son, and taking the occasional nap.

Schedule of Events:

Giant Forest Museum Area:

Dark Sky Festival Sun Zone!
Time: 10 AM to 2 PM
Location: Giant Forest Museum
Visit our local valley scientists in action! This year at the Dark Sky Festival Zone we will have the Hanford National Weather Service team for an inside look into the fascinating science behind weather and our planet, educators from Pena Planetarium to teach us about space, solar viewing provided by the Riverside Astronomical Society, face painting, and more!

To Infinity and Beyond!
Time: 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM
Presenter: Ranger Elsie Fisher
Location: Giant Forest Museum
Come and learn how big the universe is and write a postcard to your cosmic address.

Sequoia Animals of the Sky:
Time: 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM
Presenter: Ranger Gianna Uriarte
Location: Giant Forest Museum
The night sky is full of constellations, and many of them are animals. Come learn about which animals reside in both the night sky and Sequoia National Park.

Riverside Astronomical Society - Solar Viewing:
Time: 11 AM to 2 PM
Location: Giant Forest Museum
How often do we really get to see Earth’s own star, the Sun? It glows with enough energy to give us life, and has enough mass to keep us from spinning off into the cosmos. Join us for a rare opportunity to look at the sun using safe, solar telescopes.

Sequoias and the Stars Meadow Walk:
Time: 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM
Presenter: Ranger Akasha Korzeniewski
Location: Meet at Giant Forest Museum and walk the Big Trees Trail (round-trip)
Take a daytime walk around the Big Trees Trail to find your connection with Sequoia, the stars, and astronomy.

Beetle Rock Education Center:

Amateur Astronomy and Astrophotography in our National Parks and Public Lands:
Time: 10 AM to 11 AM
Presenter: Jeremy Evans
Location: Beetle Rock Education Center
Learn about astrophotography in our national parks and public lands of the west featuring images from Yellowstone, Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley, and more. Through amazing photos, you’ll explore light pollution and its effect on health and wildlife, the Milky Way, lunar rainbows, meteor showers, light painting, and basic astrophotography techniques. Come learn more about night photography or simply enjoy the slideshow.

NASA’S Journey to Mars!
Time: 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Presenter: Terry Himes
Location: Beetle Rock Education Center
Curiosity rover landed in 2012, Insight lander in 2018, Perseverance rover in 2021. They all are now in their science phase. And the Ingenuity helicopter is making spectacular history. How we fly a helicopter on Mars will be discussed. We will talk in vivid detail, all those missions plus the future Mars Sample Return and beyond.

Dark Skies and Soundscapes:
Time: 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Presenter: Erik Meyer
Location: Beetle Rock Education Center
Learn how the National Park System’s Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division works to protect, maintain, and restore acoustical and dark night sky environments throughout our National Parks.

Designing the Night: Art of the Dark Sky Festival:
Time: 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM
Presenter: Eric Tan
Location: Beetle Rock Education Center
Capturing the beauty and wonder of nature in artwork. An adventure in design, composition, technique, and color.

How Astronomers Explore the Universe:
Time: 4 PM to 5 PM
Location: Beetle Rock Education Center
Have you ever looked at an exciting new astronomical discovery and wondered: how do we know? This talk will look into the different telescopes and techniques that astronomers use to do their science, to explore how we can keep finding out more about our universe.

Round Meadow:

Walk Around the Solar System:
Time: 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM
Presenter: Jose Castro, Riverside Astronomical Society
Location: Round Meadow
It is called “space” for a reason. If the sun were a large grapefruit in our model, the earth would be a grape seed fifty feet away, and there would not be much in between! Come walk a 2,000 foot scale model of the solar system, learning along the way some interesting facts about our place in the universe!

General Sherman Tree:

Half the Park is After Dark:
Time: 9:30 AM to 9:45 AM
Presenter: Ranger Otto Dusseau
Location: General Sherman Tree
Come and learn about how the night sky is a resource in our National Parks!

Stinger of the Night:
Time: 4:30 PM to 4:45 PM
Presenter: Ranger Josh Barnes
Location: General Sherman Tree
Chat with a ranger about a misunderstood, nocturnal creature that has a prominent presence in Sequoia - the scorpion!

Wuksachi:

Understanding Galaxies in the Early Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope:
Time: 10 AM to 11 AM
Presenter: Andreas Faisst
Location: Wuksachi Lodge Alta Room
Galaxies in the early Universe look vastly different than our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and we still do not fully understand how they form. I present the most recent breakthroughs in the study of early galaxy formation and evolution made possible by the brand-new NASA James Webb Space Telescope.

All About Telescopes:
Time: 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Presenter: Darren Bly, Kern Astronomical Society
Location: Wuksachi Lodge Alta Room
Have you been interested in buying your own telescope? This program offers an interactive orientation to telescope makes, models, options, and vocabulary to help you start your own adventure exploring space.

Can Exoplanets Keep Their Atmospheres Long Enough for Life to Develop?
Time: 1:30 PM to 2 :30 PM
Presenter: Jessica Spake
Location: Wuksachi Lodge Alta Room
Earthly life requires water and a stable atmosphere. Our atmosphere has protected liquid water on the Earth’s surface for billions of years - long enough for life to evolve. But since our planet formed, much of its atmosphere has been lost to space, and even today it is slowly trickling away. We seek life beyond our Solar System, and in the last decade we have found hundreds of rocky planets around other stars. Some of these planets seem like the right temperature for liquid water, and therefore life -- but do they still have atmospheres? Or have they been stripped bare by the heat and winds from their parent stars? I’ll explain how we study exoplanets which are losing their atmospheres; and the rocky road to finding planets that may host life.

NASA’s How Failure Helps us Succeed:
Time: 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Presenter: Terry Himes
Starting as early as 1937, the United States space program has had a rich history of successes and failures. This talk will focus on what it takes to learn from our failures. Vivid images and movies will be shown. Lessons Learned and self-evaluation is a key component for learning from our mistakes. People are not perfect.

Meet the Stars (of the Dark Sky Festival):
Time: 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Location: Wuksachi Lodge Alta Room
Meet some of our guest speakers, scientists, and astronomers, as well as event organizers from the Sequoia Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service. This informal mixer is a great opportunity to meet people from across the state and country that share a passion for everything in and under our Dark Skies.

Kern Astronomical Society Wuksachi Star Party:
Time: 9 PM to 11 PM
Location: Wuksachi Lodge
Hosted by the Kern Astronomical Society. Telescopes will be set up at the Wuksachi Lodge back parking lot in Lodgepole for guests to view astronomical objects. Astronomers will be on hand to show you deep-sky objects and answer your questions.

Grant Grove:

Night Sky Junior Ranger Tent:
Time: 9 AM to 5 PM
Presenter: NPS Rangers
Location: Kings Canyon Visitor Center (outside)
Come to the Kings Canyon Visitor Center to get a Night Sky Junior Ranger book and learn some cool facts about the universe and nocturnal animals in the park!

Self-Guided Planet Walk:
Time: ALL DAY
Location: Panoramic Point Trail
Take a walking tour through our solar system and learn about the planets along the way!

What to Pack for Interplanetary Travel: A Guide to Planetary Weather:
Time: 10 AM to 11 AM
Presenter: Julie Inglis
Location: Kings Canyon VC Discovery Room
Have you ever wondered how to dress for different seasons on Mars or Venus, or why Jupiter has its red spot and bands of clouds? Come learn about the diverse climate across different worlds in the solar system and how we can predict the weather on planets around other stars.

How Bright is That Comet, Really?
Time: 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Presenter: Qicheng Zhang
Location: Kings Canyon VC Discovery RoomIf you could travel through time to watch the sky throughout human history, you'd find that the brightest celestial objects you could see, after the Sun, are actually comets. Most comets, however, are so faint they can never be seen without a telescope. Come learn about what comets are, what sets their brightness, and what they actually look like in the sky so that you know what to expect the next time you hear about a "bright" comet passing by.

Jr. Ranger Constellations Program "Stories in the Sky":
Time: 1 PM to 1:20 PM
Presenter: Ranger Emily Horan
Location: Kings Canyon VC Discovery Room
Join a ranger to learn about the constellations and their stories from various cultures across the world, and maybe even make your own!

Stuff That Falls From the Sky:
Time: 1:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Presenter: Rod Guice
Location: Kings Canyon VC Discovery Room
This presentation will cover some of the basics about meteors and meteorites and how these travelers from deep space orbit our Sun and sometimes enter our atmosphere! Come and discover the fascinating world of both real meteorites and meteor-wrongs. Our goal is that attendees will want to immediately rush out the door and find their own piece of primordial Solar System of their very own!

The Dark Night:
Time: 2:30 PM to 3:15 PM
Presenter: Ranger Lauren Harre
Location: Kings Canyon VC Discovery Room
Come learn with a ranger about the significance of dark night skies to humanity through the ages, and the vital importance of our connection to the cosmos.

Amateur Astronomy and Astrophotography in our National Parks and Public Lands:
Time: 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Presenter: Jeremy Evans
Location: Kings Canyon Visitor Center - Discovery Room
Learn about astrophotography in our national parks and public lands of the west featuring images from Yellowstone, Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley, and more. Through amazing photos, you’ll explore light pollution and its effect on health and wildlife, the Milky Way, lunar rainbows, meteor showers, light painting, and basic astrophotography techniques. Come learn more about night photography or simply enjoy the slideshow.

Night Flyers:
Time: 6:30 PM to 6:50 PM
Presenter: Ranger Kendall Ridgley
Location: General Grant Tree
 Meet a ranger to learn more about some of the most important night sky inhabitants in the park.

Central Valley Astronomers - Big Stump Star Party:
Time: 9 PM to 11 PM
Location: Big Stump Picnic Area
Hosted by the Central Valley Astronomers. Telescopes will be set up at Big Stump parking lot in Grant Grove for guests to view astronomical objects. Astronomers will be on hand to show you deep-sky objects and answer your questions.

Lodgepole Amphitheater:

Caltech Astrophysicist Panel Q&A:
Time: 6 PM to 7 PM
Location: Lodgepole Campground Amphitheater
A panel of professional astronomers and astrophysicists from Caltech will field questions from the audience on all topics related to astronomy, physics, and space science. Join us and bring your burning questions about stars, galaxies, life in the universe, black holes, science-fiction, and more! We'll do our best to address your questions.

Dark Sky Festival Keynote Address:
Time: 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Presenter: Cameron Hummels
Location: Lodgepole Campground Amphitheater
Galaxies—like our own Milky Way-are among the basic building blocks of our universe. They are complex systems consisting of billions of stars, along with gas, dust, and dark matter that occupy much of what we see when we gaze at the night sky through our telescopes. But passively observing galaxies with telescopes, even the mighty Hubble or James Webb Space Telescopes, can only reveal so much. Join astrophysicist Dr. Cameron Hummels as he discusses how astronomers create sophisticated computer simulations to better understand how galaxies form, evolve, and even predict our own Milky Way's future.

Date: September 9, 2023

Time: 10:00 a.m - 11:00 p.m.

Location:

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Sequoia National Park, CA

Click here for more information.