Courtesy of National Park Service/Mike Shaw
Contact: Kate Kuykendall, 805-370-2343 AGOURA, Calif -- The National Park Service invites the public to attend the Winter Star Party at Paramount Ranch on Saturday, February 21 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. "It's really special to be in the park at night," said Robert Cromwell, park ranger for the National Park Service. "Despite being near a major metropolotan area, our park still provides great views of stars and planets in the night sky." Cal Lutheran University professor Mike Shaw and Moorpark College professor Hal Jandorf are among the astronomy experts who will be on hand for family-friendly lectures and constellation tours. High-powered telescopes will be trained on such night sky objects as a waxing cresent moon, the Orion Nebula and Jupiter and its moons. Visitors are encouraged to bring a flashlight and warm clothing. Additional telescopes are also welcomed. Paramount Ranch is located at 2903 Cornell Road in Agoura. In the event of rain, the program will be cancelled. For further information, call 805-370-2301. This program is co-sponsored by the Ventura County Astronomical Society. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) is the largest urban national park in the country, encompassing more than 150,000 acres of mountains and coastline in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. A unit of the National Park Service, it comprises a seamless network of local, state and federal parks interwoven with private lands and communities. As one of only five Mediterranean ecosystems in the world, SMMNRA preserves the rich biological diversity of more than 450 animal species and 26 distinct plant communities. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/samo. ### |
Last updated: March 1, 2015