Cleveland is Cooler Than You Think!
All over the media, in tv and movies, Cleveland gets made fun of. In this year's A-Z Challenge, I'm here to show you everything Cleveland has to offer!
D is for Dark Park
A dark park is defined by the International Dark Sky Association as "a land possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment. The land may be publicly owned, or privately owned provided that the landowner(s) consent to the right of permanent, ongoing public access to specific areas included in the IDA designation."
There are only 15 of these parks in the U.S. designated with the silver level of distinction and the Cleveland area is lucky enough to have one of these special parks right in it's back yard.
It's called Observatory Park and it's located about 45 min southeast of Cleveland. We visited late last fall and were quite surprised by the complete darkness that encompassed us. Despite the chill of the late evening, we stayed until the sky was full of visible stars and planets and it was amazing. Aside from just gazing at the stars, the park also has a Newtonian reflector telescope with a 25" mirror. You can climb up a ladder to look in the eyepiece and see what deep space has to offer.
I know this only looks like a tiny dot, but this is actually a picture of the star Vega which is 25 lightyears from Earth. Jess took it just with her regular 35mm digital camera! It is the fifth brightest star in the night sky and is slightly blue tinged, which you can just sort of make out in the picture. It was so neat to be able to see this with our naked eye!
References:
http://darksky.org/idsp/parks/
http://www.geaugaparkdistrict.org/parks/observatorypark.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega
Doggy Style (It's really not what you think!)
My three kids have taken up the habit of naming all the different positions our beagle Rory gets himself into. Most of the time even I can't quite figure out why they chose the names they did but I thought it might put a smile on everyone's face to share in this silliness!
D is for Dead Deer
After a long walk he often assumes the Dead Deer pose to regain his strength
Hope everyone is having a great week! And don't forget that tomorrow is also and IWSG post day as well! Have you ever been to a dark park?
Kathy :)
All over the media, in tv and movies, Cleveland gets made fun of. In this year's A-Z Challenge, I'm here to show you everything Cleveland has to offer!
D is for Dark Park
 |
| (photo: Jess McKendry) |
There are only 15 of these parks in the U.S. designated with the silver level of distinction and the Cleveland area is lucky enough to have one of these special parks right in it's back yard.
It's called Observatory Park and it's located about 45 min southeast of Cleveland. We visited late last fall and were quite surprised by the complete darkness that encompassed us. Despite the chill of the late evening, we stayed until the sky was full of visible stars and planets and it was amazing. Aside from just gazing at the stars, the park also has a Newtonian reflector telescope with a 25" mirror. You can climb up a ladder to look in the eyepiece and see what deep space has to offer.
 |
| Vega (photo: Jess McKendry) |
I know this only looks like a tiny dot, but this is actually a picture of the star Vega which is 25 lightyears from Earth. Jess took it just with her regular 35mm digital camera! It is the fifth brightest star in the night sky and is slightly blue tinged, which you can just sort of make out in the picture. It was so neat to be able to see this with our naked eye!
References:
http://darksky.org/idsp/parks/
http://www.geaugaparkdistrict.org/parks/observatorypark.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega
Doggy Style (It's really not what you think!)
My three kids have taken up the habit of naming all the different positions our beagle Rory gets himself into. Most of the time even I can't quite figure out why they chose the names they did but I thought it might put a smile on everyone's face to share in this silliness!
D is for Dead Deer
After a long walk he often assumes the Dead Deer pose to regain his strength
Hope everyone is having a great week! And don't forget that tomorrow is also and IWSG post day as well! Have you ever been to a dark park?
Kathy :)
