That reminds of a story when I was stargazing in Bryce, before Chad Moore and David Poe, a Ranger politely asked if he could look through my helicopter. I invited him to look through my spaceship.
Erik Speaking of the prison, I've got to share this story.
About 25 years ago when I was working for Hansen Planetarium I was requested by the folks who run the Draper Hilton to do an astronomy lesson for some of their medium security guests who were taking high school classes. I asked if they'd also like me to do a Star Party. (I was all of 23 at the time and very naïve.) They asked what that involved and when I told them about it they said it sounded great.
The night of the Star Party came and I dutifully lugged an orange C8 out into the large exercise yard/baseball diamond. As I began setting up the telescope the head guard came out and said, "What do you think you're doing?" I began to explain what was going on and he cut me off, pointing at my Levi jacket. "Take that off." I wasn't eager to take off the only protection against cool night air I'd brought with me so I asked him "Why?" His reply got my attention: "On these grounds, those are targets." It turns out that Levi jackets were issued to the inmates.
Abandoning my jacket I returned to setting up the scope. When I was ready I was joined by Steve, the prison staff member who had organized this educational activity for the prisoners and about a dozen of his clients. They were of course thrilled to be outside during off-schedule hours.
The lighting they had on the playing field was blinding, probably brighter than the lighting at a night game in the NFL.
I asked (seriously, I really did this) if it was possible to turn off all the field lighting, since their glare made observing through the telescope nearly impossible.
I was met with howls of laughter. The inmates were ribbing each other and saying, "Yeah, Steve! Turn out the lights, man! We need it to be DARK 'round here for a while!"
Steve himself was laughing so hard he could barely breathe, and simply shook his head.
I finally got it. Okay.
So, I did a "Star Party" under conditions that were so bright I probably should have brought SPF 45 sunblock.
We looked at the moon.
Seth
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+sjarvis=slco.org@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+sjarvis=slco.org@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 8:20 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Border Lighting
Excellent news.
But then I guess I'm not completely surprised. All one has to do is fly over the prison down by point of the mountain at night to see folks who _really_ know security know it makes no sense to have a lot of scattered glare when trying to spot the bad guys.
pw
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