laser pointer – The Amazing Sky

September 6, 2025September 6, 2025

Scenes from a Star Party

Amateur astronomers like nothing more than spending time under a dark night sky with a field of friends.

Star parties are a popular part of the hobby of amateur astronomy. They’re chances for stargazers to get under dark skies and meet up with others who love the night sky.

Each year I attend the biggest such event in my area in western Canada, the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party. It usually attracts about 320 sky lovers to the very dark skies of southwest Saskatchewan.

A light pollution map where grey = good!

The label marks the spot for the Party, in the Cypress Hills, and in the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, that straddles the border of Saskatchewan and Alberta. As per its name, the SSSP is held on the Saskatchewan side of the Park, in the Centre Block south of Maple Creek. (A complementary Southern Alberta Star Party is held on the Alberta side of the Cypress Hills, in September. I’ll be there!)

As the map shows, the Cypress Hills are far from any light pollution and offer “Bortle 2-class” skies — 1 being the darkest, and 9 being downtown Las Vegas!

In fact, the Park is a Dark Sky Preserve, a designation awarded in 2004. Parks are increasingly aware of their role in not only conserving flora, fauna, and historical sites, but also the increasingly threatened night sky. As the saying goes, “Half the Park is after dark!”

The Dark Sky Preserve designation, and efforts to refit what lighting is in the Park to “dark-sky friendly” fixtures, came about as a direct result of the Park, and Star Party, being the site of a comet discovery three years earlier.

It was at the Star Party in August 2001 that Regina amateur astronomer Vance Petriew discovered a comet, an observing feat that merits a comet being named for the discoverer.

This year, a new sign and plaque were unveiled commemorating the discovery, replacing a cairn that had fallen into disrepair over 20 years. Here is the unveiling —

Park officials, fellow astronomers and Vance unveil the sign.

This was a fine event with all the star party folks in attendance, many of whom were there in 2001! — including the now adult daughters of the Petriew family.

Click on the images below to bring the photos up full screen.

While that was a highlight of the week, the real show was the sky above. The Milky Way was on display in a sky clearer and darker than we had seen it for many years. No clouds, no smoke, and little dew and bugs! The Cypress Hills are a mecca for stargazing!

The road into the Meadows Campground, home to the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party. The SSSP is organized by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada centres in Regina and Saskatoon.

Telescopes and tents under the Milky Wa.y

A popular part of this star party, as it is at many such events, is a laser-guided tour of naked-eye sights, where a guide points out the constellation patterns, and highlights objects that need nothing more than binoculars to see well.

In a slide show below, astronomer Ron Waldron from Saskatoon conducts the 2025 Friday night “star walk.” It’s BYOB — Bring Your Own Binoculars!

Laser touring the sky
Yes, there was an aurora
Look up! Look way up!
Peering into the Galactic Core

While participants stay up until the wee hours to enjoy all that the sky has to offer, every star party offers a range of daytime activities (but not happening too early!). Star parties are great places to see fields of telescopes of every description. This year the program included a formal “show-and-shine” tour of some notable gear for all to admire. And there’s the ever-popular swap meet with bargains on offer.

The Swap Meet
Kevin’s astrophoto rig
Wade’s classic refractor
Ed’s super astrophoto scope
Nick’s astrophoto array
Dan’s super solar scope

We enjoyed several talks on a range of astronomy topics, not just stargazing, but also the latest in science research. We heard about a satellite being built in Saskatchewan by U of S and U of R students, and about how the Mars Perseverance rover collects samples, in a talk from one of the researchers involved with the NASA mission.

Kimberly Sibbald delivered the opening keynote on her amazing astrophotos.
Dr. Chris Herd from the U of A explained Mars sample collection.
And I gave a short talk about eclipses coming up.
A 3D model of the Sask Sat

And of course there were awards and door prizes to be won! Always to a capacity crowd at the Cypress Resort conference room.

The door prizes being handed out. You must be in the room to win!

It was a superb 4 days of astronomy and stargazing. If you are in the area, I highly recommend attending. Next year’s SSSP will be August 12 to 15 inclusive — it’s always at New Moon. The website is here but won’t be updated for the 2026 event details until next year.

I won’t be there in 2026, as August 12 is the date of the next total eclipse of the Sun, which I discuss in my previous blog. I plan to be in Spain!

This is the new sign and plaque commemorating the discovery in 2001 of a comet here in the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park by Vance Petriew.

But I highly recommend attending in 2026. As most people do, you may find yourself enjoying the weekend so much you make it an annual event in your calendar. I shall miss my annual August ritual of the SSSP in 2026 and in 2027 — there’s an eclipse that August, too!

But 2025 was certainly a fine year to enjoy all that the Cypress Hills have to offer under the stars.

— Alan, September 6, 2025 / AmazingSky.com

March 15, 2015

Lasers at Lovejoy

Laser beams point out Comet Lovejoy at a public star party at City of Rocks State Park.

It was a perfect night last night for public stargazing. I headed out to the State Park for the monthly star party, held at the Orion group campground (with Orion nicely placed in the sky above) and home to a fine public observatory.

The Gene and Elizabeth Simon Observatory features a Meade 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope which gave great views of Jupiter with one of its moons, Callisto, in transit as a dark dot on the face of the planet.

About 70 people turned out, from the Park’s campground and from the nearby communities. Here Matt starts the night with a laser guided tour of the constellations. These bright lasers are wonderful for public events like this but when in the wrong hands they can be dangerous.

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has issued guidelines for their use. Check their webpage for more details.

Another technical innovation popular at the City of Rocks Star Parties is an iPad running Sky Safari software, and on a tripod with handles so people can move it about the sky to identify stars and constellations for themselves. It works great. Here, I pose with it for a staged photo, with the Big Dipper in the background.

Here I pose with the Observatory’s 14-inch telescope.

In all, it was a superb night at surely one of the finest places on the planet for public stargazing. I recommended to the Park officials that they should apply for official Dark Sky Preserve status. They would qualify without question.

Clear skies!

August 31, 2014

Marvelling at the Milky Way

People gather at a rural observatory to gaze at the Milky Way on a summer night.

The clouds drifted through now and then but skies were mostly clear for the last of the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory‘s annual Milky Way Nights for 2014.

A tradition since 2009 and the Year of Astronomy, these dark-of-the-moon nights at the Observatory have proven hugely popular each summer despite the 10 p.m. start and 2 a.m. finish!

The main image at top shows a 360° panorama as people were gathering at the portable telescopes and lining up – in a blur – for a look inside the observatory domes.

Roland from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada provided laser-guided star tours. How did we point out the stars and constellations before green lasers? In the hands of responsible astronomers they are a great tool for public education.

Here he’s pointing out Vega and the stars of the Summer Triangle. Look way up!

About 400 people attended on Saturday night, the last in a trio of nights this past week. As you can see, the event attracts people of all ages. It’s even a popular date night attraction.

At these summer stargazing sessions many people bring blankets to just lie back and look up, at a site away from the ugly glow of the city, here lighting up the clouds to the north.

It was a great night of public stargazing!

February 10, 2013

See, That’s the Orion Nebula!

What a hardy bunch we are in Canada, braving winter weather to see Orion and company.

A well-bundled group of sky fans partakes in an impromptu tour of Orion and his famous nebula.

I shot this scene last night, February 9, at the first of a series of monthly stargazing nights at the local university research observatory, the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory. About 120 people and volunteers gathered to take in the sights of the winter sky, as best they could as transient clouds permitted. Inside, speakers presented talks themed to the Chinese New Year, which is governed by the timing of the New Moon each year. As this was a New Moon night, people were able to stargaze under reasonably dark skies to see deep-sky sights such as the Orion Nebula.

Want to know where it is? An astronomy club member points it out rather handily with one of the best tools astronomers have for public outreach, a bright green laser pointer. Controversial and dangerous in the wrong hands, when used responsibly these laser pointers are wonderful for conducting sky tours.

As a side note, this is a 3-second exposure with a new Canon 6D camera at ISO 8000, yet the photo shows very little noise. In just 3 seconds, the Milky Way is beginning to show up! I could have gone to previously unthinkable speeds of ISO 12000+ and still had a presentable shot. This will be a superb camera for nightscapes and available light shots.