http://punkastronomy.com/2009/07/18/sky-watching-with-the-navajo-wao-of-saturn-part-ii/ nerd is punk Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:08:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://punkastronomy.com/2009/07/18/sky-watching-with-the-navajo-wao-of-saturn-part-ii/#comment-25 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:11:35 +0000 http://punkastronomy.com/?p=62#comment-25 Enjoying following your postings, Doug. Hope you are enjoying yourself out there and look forward to seeing more pictures when you return.

]]> http://punkastronomy.com/2009/07/18/sky-watching-with-the-navajo-wao-of-saturn-part-ii/#comment-24 Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:19:58 +0000 http://punkastronomy.com/?p=62#comment-24 Ha ha ha! No, lenscap was on. I’m also curious…though I’m not sure how many more Navajo visitors we will get. When the tribal schools run field trips to Chaco, usually 1/3 of the students will not get permission to come. Some of the more traditional Navajo don’t like the idea of climbing around where dead people were…it’s a bit of a taboo. In terms of demographics and numbers, it’s hard to judge; the campground is closed so only the hard-core campers willing to rough it in one of the alternative (private) campsites or those who don’t mind driving down jackrabbit road at 11:30 at night will stay for night sky…very self-selecting. Chaco is a self-selecting kind of place anyway, with 27 miles of washboard dirt road from the main highway. That’s the reason it isn’t swamped beyond recognition by visitors like many of the other western National Parks. The demographic of visitors I’ve seen (given all the above) is middle class, white, and well-educated. Most of the people that come here are readers, and in general the ones that stay for Night Sky have some familiarity with what we are showing them. Many of them are from the West, and so have some regular access to dark skies and have definitely looked through scopes before. So they are not as flabbergasted as some of the Easterners I’m used to working with. But also, the dark skies and bigger scopes ratchet up the views, so there is still a lot of oohing and aahing. The rangers want to do more outreach to the local communities–meaning mostly tribal schools–since many don’t have the means (or desire) to come to the park. Long winded answer, but good questions.

]]> http://punkastronomy.com/2009/07/18/sky-watching-with-the-navajo-wao-of-saturn-part-ii/#comment-23 Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:16:31 +0000 http://punkastronomy.com/?p=62#comment-23 Maybe you forgot to take the lens cap off.
I’m curious to hear how this plays out with other Navajo visitors, assuming you will have more. What is the usual nightly audience like, in terms of both numbers and demographics? Are you getting the usual ‘Wow!’ from other viewers?

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