Day 3 (ctd) - Summit Experience

While Miriam stayed in the van to read her book, I set off in the dark for the Dark Sky Project office on my mountain bike for the 7:15 pm Summit Experience. The ride was uneventful even though I only had my headlamp and the gravel path to guide me. Lots of bunnies got a bit of a surprise! The 2km ride took about 8 minutes.

After a briefing and warning about not using any white lights (torches, camera flashes and cell phones) our group of 22 were given well insulated jackets and a small lanyard with a mini red light to help when walking around. The bus trip was quite an experience especially on the windy Mt John road when the driver had to turn off her main headlights for the last couple of corners.

The visit mostly consisted of the guide talking us through the basics of astronomy and the makeup of stars etc. The laser pointers they used to point directly at specific stars were impressive. Just a single intense beam which meant no confusion about which star they were referring to.

We then had three telescopes to look at some specific star clusters but this was very brief and difficult to organise with a large group.

Overall it was a great experience but, for me anyway, the Milky Way was better from our remote location in Martinborough and also in Kaikoura. Especially as this is being designated a Dark Sky area and lighting pollution will be further reduced.

I will be getting out my own telescope out when I get home!