New project at Piper’s Lagoon Park to enhance viewing the night sky

Mike Ounsted with his Skyview Pro 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope at Piper’s Lagoon Park (Lauryn Mackenzie/ CHLY 101.7FM)

Piper’s Lagoon Park is viewed as one of the best places in Nanaimo to see the stars, and a new project is making it easier to experience the night sky.

In partnership with the City of Nanaimo and the Nanaimo Astronomy Society, a new dark-sky viewing pilot project has been launched to encourage the public in viewing the night sky.

For this project two viewing pads have been installed near the parking lot to provide a stable and accessible space for stargazing and telescope set up.

Interpretive signage has also been installed by the pads with diagrams of what constellations could be seen during the different seasons.

Mike Ounsted is President of the Nanaimo Astronomy Society. CHLY met with him at Piper’s Lagoon Park Tuesday evening.

“This site is absolutely perfect. It's Piper's Lagoon, and through negotiations with the City, and Parks and Rec, in particular, they have been absolutely fantastic and very proactive, ‘let's do this.’” Ounsted said. “So here we are in a beautiful surrounding being able to see the ecliptic path of the planets and wide expanse of the sky without too much light interference.”

He said the society has been able to host stargazing parties for society members and interested community members with the new pads.

“It's a real delight when you see people for the first time see something that just literally blows them away,” he said. “Whether it's the detail of the creators of the moon or the bands of Jupiter and the Great Red Spot, or all the satellites around Jupiter or Saturn. It's just a joy to see people's reaction.”

Ounsted said after looking at some other potential locations, the lagoon was a perfect spot for the project.

“With the proximity and with the park and the washrooms, parking. It was really an ideal spot for people,” he said. “There's chairs here, there's picnic tables, and as you can hear and smell and see we've got the ocean right in front of us and just a great expanse of the sky open to us.”

He explained if people are to bring their telescopes to the park there is a whole universe of things to see no matter what time of the year it is.

“For June right now, we'll be able to see Venus and Jupiter close together, and it's right near the western part of the sky. They're very, very bright, very, very prominent, so it's very easy to see, and it just again depends on how late you want to stay up,” he said “Obviously, you can see different galaxies, different nebulas, star clusters. So there's an infinite variety of objects you can see, and if you get bored, if you pick the right night, you might even see the International Space Station fly overhead.”

Ounsted said Jupiter and Mars are two planets he never gets tired looking at.

“I'm always gravitating towards the Orion constellation, and to see the gases and the nebula there, it's just beautiful,” he said. “You can see the different colours of stars. It really makes you appreciate what's out there, and really, how small we are.”

Along with hosting stargazing parties at Piper’s Lagoon, the society hosts various different meet ups and monthly lecture series on a variety of space related subjects.

“It's from people that are just learning to people that have been in there for absolute years with the latest and greatest and most expensive equipment,” Ounsted said. “What's nice about it is that everybody is willing to help each other out, whether it's to set up their equipment or advice or just being able to come together, and if you have questions, there's a tonne of people there that are able to give that advice.”

Charlotte Davis is the deputy director of parks at the City of Nanaimo. She told CHLY when the Nanaimo Astronomy Society came to the City with the idea for the project they were more than happy to help out.

“I was really surprised when they came to me with the idea of Piper’s Lagoon Park,” Davis said. “I'm not an astronomer, and so I didn't know that that was actually such a gem within our city, but apparently it really is. When you're looking up to the night skies from there, you get some great views.”

She explained that it is labeled as a pilot program due to the current hours of the park.

“So right now the park closes at 11 p.m. in the summer and 9 p.m. in the winter, but if we were to find that we needed to extend those hours, we could do that,” Davis said. “It's just that we would need to change our parks by law, so that would need to be a council decision, but I think that would be something worth considering. However from speaking with the Astronomy Society, they're quite happy with those hours for now.”

With more stargazing events at Piper’s Lagoon Park planned for the near future, information about the Nanaimo Astronomy Society and their events can be found on the society’s website at www.nanaimoastronomy.com.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.