My God, It's Full Of Stars

Jasper's becoming a stargazer's haven

Moonstruck: Peter Macmahon leads a daytime astronomy session as a young girl has her eye on the Man in the Moon. McMahon is one of Canada's best-known astronomers, and certainly the most media savvy. He's travelled around the world to follow his dream of travelling among the stars. Photo By Stephen A. Nelson

By Stephen A. Nelson

Peter McMahon has stars in his eyes. His head is in the clouds. You might even say he's moonstruck, and he'd probably agree with you. But one thing is certain -- this is one space cadet whose feet are firmly on the ground.

McMahon is one of Canada's best-known astronomers, and certainly the most media savvy. He's travelled around the world to follow his dream of travelling among the stars.

So when he says that "Jasper National Park is becoming the Disney World of dark sky preserves," he means it in a good way.

McMahon was in Jasper for its first-ever Dark Sky Festival -- a weekend of events in October celebrating Jasper National Park's designation at the world's largest -- and darkest -- dark sky preserve. Jasper turns out to be one of the best places in the world to get lost in space.

So it seems strange that his guided tour of the heavens is taking place on a bright sunny morning. The media types in the tour are wondering just what kind of tour you can possibly do with Sol high in the southern sky. But McMahon is sparkling with enthusiasm and aims his telescope at the faint daytime moon hanging over a mountain known as The Whistlers.

Skeptical about our prospects, we peer through the looking glass to discover that when it comes to gazing at the moon, everything is much clearer in the light of day.

Star Gazer

But McMahon is not the only spaceman.

One star gazer has set up his specially equipped telescope and set the controls for the heart of the sun. It's one of those rare opportunities to ignore your parents' warnings and do what you've always been told not to do: look right at the sun.

"What are those things that look like clouds moving across the face of the sun?" a reporter asks.

"Those are clouds," says the astronomer, who said clouds have an earthly -- not solar -- origin.

Star Trek

When evening falls, our group makes the trek to the mobile Telus Planetarium -- a sort of inflatable igloo that magically transforms the inside of a school gym into a high-tech dome for taking a star trek.

We feel like we're new members of a tribe who have gathered in the meeting igloo to hear fireside tales from the storyteller -- Tyson Wagner from the Telus World of Science in Edmonton.

As fate would have it, our storyteller is one of those cool Big Bang Theory-type of nerds: Someone who seems to have got his start in astronomy from watching Clash of The Titans. He swears he was into astronomy "long before that movie came out."

Using the dome of the inflatable igloo as his drawing board, Wagner shows us Cassiopeia -- the Greek queen whose vanity and beauty invokes the jealousy of the gods. To the north is her husband, King Cepheus. And to the south, their daughter Andromeda whom they sacrifice to the Kraken -- the sea monster with a taste for beautiful young women -- in order to appease the jealous gods. To the southeast is Perseus, the helmeted hero who first beheads the monstrous Medusa before flying on the wings of Pegasus to defeat the Kraken and rescue Andromeda.

There are stars in the southern sky

When darkness has covered the land, we head to Pyramid Lake, about 10 minutes away from the town of Jasper and a galaxy far, far away from the city lights.

But the night skies are cloudy and gloomy and not at all hopeful.

There are stars in the southern sky but we can't see them. Easily recognizable favourites such as Orion the Hunter and Venus the Evening Star are obscured from our view.

But a West Wind blows and pulls back the curtain of clouds. The heavens are spread out before us.

Brian Catto, Parks Canada's resident skywalker, pulls out his laser pointer and draws us a picture in the sky -- just as Wagner had done on the inflatable dome of the planetarium.

And there they are, larger than life: Cassiopeia, Perseus, Medusa, and Pegasus. For good measure, we also see Hercules. And finally, the crowning glory: Jupiter, king of the gods, is rising over the crest of the Colin range.

The Lord of the Starfields, it seems, has smiled on us.