Without the lights, remembering that there are stars up there by Corinne Ramey It was as if a magician had come to Inwood's Dyckman fields on April 3. In one fell swoop, all the lights of the park were extinguished, and the eager audience erupted in spontaneous applause. This was the first time in the history of New York City that park lights had been turned off for star gazing, and local astronomer Jason Kendall hoped this would be the perfect atmosphere for viewing the heavens. And it might have been, except for one small detail. “The clouds are blocking the stars,” explained six-year-old Benjamin Escatel, pointing to the murky sky and the hulking George Washington Bridge that was partially obscured by the fog. Since January, Kendall has been hard at work trying to persuade the Parks Department to turn off the lights in Inwood Hill Parks’ Dyckman baseball fields for astronomical viewing, and Friday was Kendall’s big night. Despite the drizzly weather and occasional thunder, about 80 New Yorkers, mostly Inwood and Washington Heights residents, attended the event. Although it was too cloudy to see anything when the Parks Department switched off the lights at 8 p.m., the observers who were patient enough to stick around for several hours were later rewarded with about 20 minutes of partially clear sky. Shortly after the lights went out, star gazers crowded around the telescopes, many of which belonged to members of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York. Children peaked through the lenses, observing the magnified lights on the bridge because the sky was too cloudy. “If the sky were clear we’d see another one or two magnitudes, which is two to four times as many stars,” said Tony Hoffman, a board member of New York’s Amateur Astronomy Association, who lives in Queens. Kendall, a natural entertainer who has a masters degrees in both theater and astronomy, seemed to sense that his audience was getting restless. He made the closest picnic table his stage and began to narrate the night sky. “In astronomy it’s called the soup, and we’re in it badly,” he said, explaining why his audience couldn’t see a thing. But that didn’t mean there was nothing to look at. “We’ve got a peeking moon through there,” he said. “That’s called: ‘a tease.’” Then he pointed towards the light pollution emanating from Midtown Manhattan. “That white spot is Times Square,” he said, theatrically tottering on the picnic table as he pointed into the sky. But several hours later, the clouds partially cleared, allowing for views of the moon, the Big Dipper and Saturn and its largest moon, Titan. “After waiting all that time, it was great,” said Hoffman, who when not looking at stars is an editor at PCMag.com. Kendall, 41, is a Solar System ambassador for a NASA outreach program and Inwood’s local astronomy buff. On Wednesday and Saturday nights, he sets up his telescopes on the corner of Seaman and Isham Streets and invites passersby to take a look. During the day, Kendall is a systems administrator for Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm. The event took several months of negotiation between Kendall and the Parks Department, mostly to raise the $3,000 required to pay for the electricians and extra staff who had to be on hand to make the event safe, said Kendall. Jennifer Hoppa, the Northern Manhattan Parks Administrator, said the extra work was worth it. “Until you’ve engaged with the stars, you don’t know what you’re missing,” she said. For people who missed seeing the stars on Friday, it looks like there will be a second chance. “I have no problem with doing it again,” said Manhattan Parks Commissioner William Castro, as he gazed into the cloudy sky. “We’re used to TV and everything supercharged, and this is a simple thing that’s really invigorating.” For some, the park’s darkness really was enough. Six-year-old Benjamin, who attended the event with his parents, didn’t need stars to enjoy the dark. “It’s cool because my shoes light up,” he said.
|
