Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Today we drove north to Montrose and into the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park. We have driven past this park several times over the years and kept saying that next time we would stop. So today we stopped. Tonights campground program was listed as learning about astronomy but the ranger only talked about life giving water and how astronomers are looking for planets that have liquid water and quite possibly life. But he also alluded to the fact that water on earth is becoming a precious commodity due to the fact that there is only a set amount of water on earth but more and more people using that water. Did you know that 11 months out of the year, the Colorado River does not have enough water to reach the Sea of Cortez? It dwindles out into mud before it reaches the sea. Something to think about.

After the ranger talk we joined about 7 amateur astronomers with their monster telescopes, computer aided telescopes and large binoculars. We looked at star clusters, twin stars, the planet Saturn with its rings, dead stars, and far off galaxies. A photographer was taking pictures of the night sky with a 15 second lapse timer on his camera so that the stars were as clear as day in the photo. Astronomy is a big part of this park as it is one of the darkest locations in the US. If we had wanted to stay up past 11 pm we could have watched the Perseids Meteor Shower shoot falling stars through the night sky.