The night sky in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks is nationally recognized. The darkness not only adds to the aesthetic qualities of the wilderness, but is important to the health of its wildlife.

In celebration of its celestial wonders park officials are hosting The Dark Sky Festival from Sept. 11-13. The three-day festival aims to educate visitors about the importance of this park resource and inspire them to take action in their own community.

The festival is happening throughout both Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, particularly in the Lodgepole and Grant Grove areas. Throughout the day there will be several walks, talks, guest speakers, demonstrations, and kids’ activities occurring. The evening will also offer star gazing opportunities with highly effective telescopes. In addition to the festival, the parks offer plenty of outdoor activities that the whole family can enjoy.

The weekend will include: constellation tour, telescope viewings, solar observations, astronaut speakers, kids activities, speakers on robotic Mars missions, model rocket building, National Park Service programs, special Crystal Cave tours, nature walks, audio/visual presentations, photography presentations and more.

Guest Speakers will include:

Dr. Tyler Nordgren

Two-thirds of Americans no longer live where the Milky Way is even faintly visible. For visitors to America’s national parks, a sky full of stars is now as rare as the sight of glaciers, grizzly bears and granite cliffs that brought them there in the first place. Fortunately, a visit to our nation’s parks now reveals the beauty of the universe at night while revealing the geology found throughout the solar system by day. National parks are now our window to the universe.

NASA Astronaut

Robert L. Behnken

U.S. Air Force Colonel Robert “Bob” Behnken was selected as a NASA astronaut in July 2000 and reported for training that August. Following the completion of 18 months of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Space Shuttle branch, supporting launch and landing activities at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Colonel Behnken flew as Mission Specialist on Space Shuttle missions STS-123 in March 2008 and STS-130 in February 2010, logging more than 708 hours in space, and performing more than 37 hours in six spacewalks. In 2008, Colonel Behnken also trained for STS-400, a back-up launch-on-need rescue flight for the last Hubble servicing mission in case there was an emergency during the execution of that mission. Since then, within the Astronaut Office, he has served in the Exploration branch, as Chief of the Space Station Operations Branch, and Chief of the Astronaut Office. He has just been selected as one of four astronauts chosen to train and prepare for the first U.S. commercial space flights.

Nagin Cox, ‘Hitting

the Road on Mars’

Since the beginning of time, people have been entranced by the night sky and by our nearest planetary neighbor, Mars. From the early missions to Viking, Pathfinder and the more recent missions, Mars has been (and is) a challenging destination. The Mars Exploration Rovers landed on Mars in January 2004 and have been successfully exploring ever since. Come hear the story of their legacy and our newest rover on Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover. Curiosity landed on Mars spectacularly in August 2012 and is already making astounding discoveries as she explores the Red Planet.

Star Party with the Kern Astronomical Society

Sequoia and Kings Canyon Parks give stargazers opportunities to view thousands of stars with the naked eye. With a telescope however, you can glance deeper into the universe to observe far away galaxies, star clusters, planets and other impressive objects. Join the Kern Astronomical Society and Sequoia naturalists for an evening of telescopes, stories and impressive views of our dark skies at Wuksachi Lodge.

Dark Wars with Kevin Poe

This is a hi-tech, virtual tour the battlefield of artificial light vs. the preservation of natural darkness. Learn about this desperate struggle where the fate of astronomy, nocturnal animals, climate change, and even human health hangs in the balance. Brought to you by Celestron Telescopes.

For a complete schedule and more information about Dark Sky Festival visit, www.exploresequoiakingscanyon.com/schedule.html.