by Mark Duggan | May 17, 2019
Miles from any metropolitan area, the region around the monument is one of the darkest places in the lower 48 states. Now it’s been officially recognized for its lack of light pollution by the International Dark Sky Association. I spoke with Sonya Popelka, who...
by Mark Duggan | Dec 7, 2015
Jeronimo Cruz gets pretty excited about bodies. Celestial bodies. Constellations, nebulae, star clusters. He shares them all with childlike enthusiasm, making him the perfect guide for the nightly viewing program at Kitt Peak National Observatory west of...
by Mark Duggan | Nov 4, 2013
Tucson, Ariz. – A recipe for how to make an 8.4-meter telescope mirror: Ingredient: About 44,000 pounds of glass chunks. Instructions: Load glass chunks into 27-foot diameter mold. Place mold in giant spinning oven and set for five revolutions-per-minute. Cook...
by Mark Duggan | Nov 25, 2012
Ian Cheney remembers when he first became interested in dark skies. He’d just moved from rural Maine to New York City and was amazed at how little of the night sky was visible. He could see celestial details in Maine, such as stars, planets, and the vast Milky...
