Great Basin National Park — an intergalactic planetarium
Great Basin National Park in Nevada is known for its dark skies. Photo/National Park Service
By Kyle Roerink, Las Vegas Sun
GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK — The 60-foot laser beam streaked like a lightsaber across the night sky, playing connect-the-dots with constellations in the plane of the Milky Way.
On a hillside 300 miles northeast of Las Vegas in the Great Basin National Park, Derek Demeter controlled the light with shifts of his wrist. Each movement sent the laser on a light-years’ long course.
It was 10pm on a recent weekend and 300 park guests craned their necks toward the heavens. Some peered through telescopes and others followed the vivid path of Demeter’s wand. Faces weren’t visible, but the stars, the Milky Way and distant galaxies were.
I believe that the greatest assets of our country are the crown jewel National Park System. The diversity and wildness, water ways, ruggedness of the continental divide, shorelines, forests, battle fields and architectural wonders, these special places set aside for everyone to enjoy. Thank heavens for the forsight of historians, naturalists, politicians, and ordinary people who worked together to keep these areas protected for now and future generations.