Spending a night under Jasper’s dark skies is a unique experience, but it can easily be ruined by unpredictable weather, as well as long summer nights.
Fortunately, a new planetarium recently opened in town, making it possible to explore Jasper’s night sky day-or-night, rain-or-shine.
“Our planetarium is a star theatre where we can simulate everything that’s up in the night sky from meteors and the northern lights, to stars, planets and galaxies—everything in the universe,” said Peter McMahon, manager and senior presenter with the Jasper Planetarium.
Specifically designed for Jasper, the show takes the audience on a cosmic tour of Jasper’s night sky from outside the information centre to Pyramid Lake and the Columbia Icefield.
Along the way, the audience learns about the constellations used by Cree and Blackfoot people and how local explorers used the stars to guide them through the park.
During the 35-minute presentation, the audience is catapulted into space to observe Earth from the International Space Station. Circling the planet, the audience flies over each continent several times to witness the spider like veins of the city lights below.
From there things can get a little queasy as McMahon zooms further and further out until the audience is well beyond the Milky Way Galaxy, past the Local Group (which includes the Milky Way) to look back at a small portion of the universe.
“It’s not a planetarium show you can see anywhere. This is a story about the dark skies over Jasper and it’s really as much a tour of Jasper as it is a tour of the night sky and the universe,” said McMahon.
In addition to the planetarium show, the company also offers a Wild Night Star Gazing program that offers people the chance to observe stars, planets and galaxies through the largest telescope in the Rockies.
Located at the Marmot Lodge, the planetarium, which is run in partnership with Jasper Raft Tours and SunDog Tours, officially launched June 29.
“Jasper has really become a destination for people to come stargazing,” said McMahon, explaining that Jasper National Park is the largest accessible dark sky preserve in the world and is particularly great for night sky viewing because the valley isn’t hemmed in by the mountains.
“[The planetarium is] a chance to see the amazing things the park has to offer, day and night, regardless of what the weather is doing,” said McMahon, who has been heavily involved in the Jasper Dark Sky Festival, acting as the resident Sky Guy each year.
Viewings are at 9 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. every night until Oct. 15, wrapping up just before the Dark Sky Festival, which runs from Oct. 16 to 25.
Tickets for the planetarium cost $29 for adults, $12 for children aged two to 12 and $65 for a family up to four.
For more information or to book a program, call 780-931-3275.
Paul Clarke
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