News Release
Jack Suman
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Contact: Matthew Cahill, 520-824-3560
Willcox, AZ – The National Park Service and the International Dark-Sky Association are pleased to announce Chiricahua National Monument as the 104th International Dark Sky Park. This certification recognizes the exceptional quality of the park’s night skies and provides added opportunities to enhance visitor experiences through astronomy-based interpretive programming. "The park is proud to advance the preservation of night skies in the Sky Islands and to provide visitors with a memorable experience of our exceptionally starry nights at Chiricahua,” said acting Park Superintendent Matthew Carroll. “This recognition arose from the hard work of employees across the Southeast Arizona Group of National Park Sites. We look forward to future collaboration with our partners at the International Dark-Sky Association and the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association. National parks are among the best places on Earth to see a sky full of stars, planets, and galaxies.”Chiricahua National Monument in partnership with the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) will be hosting a special dark sky event Saturday, May 8, 2021, from 7:30-9:30 pm at the Faraway Ranch parking lot, 1 mile beyond the park entrance to celebrate Dark Sky Certification. Registration is limited and social distancing will be required.
Join Jim O’Connor from TAAA at 7:30 pm for a laser guided tour of night sky objects. The night sky tour will be followed at 8:15 pm by telescope viewing via monitor with astronomer Bernie Stinger. Participants might expect to see nebulae, galaxies, globular clusters, and more night sky objects.
Participants should dress warmly; bring drinks, snacks, a portable chair or blanket to sit on, and a flashlight with a red filter, if possible.
Registration is required and limited for this COVID safe special event. Call the visitor center desk at 520-824- 3560 x9302.
Chiricahua National Monument is located 4 miles east of the AZ HWY 181 and 186 junction, and 37 miles southeast of Willcox. Check www.nps.gov/chir for more park information, or call the visitor center at 520-824-3560 ext. 9302. For details about the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association, visit www.tucsonastronomy.org.
Background
Chiricahua National Monument was established in 1924 to preserve the unique pinnacles and balanced rocks in the ancestral homelands of the Chokonen Band of Chiricahua Apache. The National Monument is in the Chiricahua Mountains, the largest of Arizona’s “Sky Islands”, mountain islands separated by basins of grassland and desert. Nearly 90% of the Monument’s 12,025 acres is designated wilderness that contributes to exceptional darkness. Relative geographic isolation, far from major population centers of Arizona, New Mexico and the northern Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua, affords the site natural protection from light pollution and skyglow. The night sky quality over the Monument is nearly pristine, with limited influence from distant cities. The Monument has excellent air quality, low annual precipitation, mild temperatures, and clear night skies, making it a great location for astronomers and visitors to enjoy year-round. Despite its location off the beaten path, Chiricahua National Monument provides programs throughout the year where todays visitors experience night skies that once delighted guests at the Faraway Ranch in the 1920s.
The International Dark Sky Places Program was founded in 2001 as a non-regulatory and voluntary program to encourage communities, parks, and protected areas around the world to preserve and protect dark sites through responsible lighting polices and public education. Chiricahua National Monument now joins more than 100 locations that have followed a rigorous application process that demonstrates robust community support for dark sky certification.
About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 423 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.
About the International Dark-Sky Association: IDA’s mission is to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting. Learn more at www.darksky.org.
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Last updated: April 30, 2021