OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — The heavens abound at mile-high Hurricane Ridge.
Free public telescope viewing is planned each night this weekend and through Wednesday.
John Goar, Olympic National Park “Dark Ranger,” and his fellow volunteers will explain the night sky at 9:30 p.m. on clear nights.
Viewing will recommence at 9:15 p.m. Sept. 1 and continue through Sept. 4.
This marks the seventh consecutive summer that Goar has offered free telescope viewing at Hurricane Ridge. He is being assisted this year by two volunteers.
Olympic Telescope, Goar’s program, deploys a pair of homemade telescopes with five different eyepieces. One of the setups has a magnification 185 times the naked eye.
Featured objects to see include Saturn and its moons, globular cluster M13, planetary “Ring Nebula” M57 and Andromeda Galaxy M31.
Last summer’s telescope viewings drew 1,357 stargazers on 35 clear nights.
The six-year total heading into this summer was 5,156.
Although the telescope viewing is free, Olympic National Park entrance fees still apply.
For daily updates on the telescope viewing program, phone the Olympic National Park hotline at 360-565-3131 after 3 p.m.
For information on Olympic Telescope, visit www.olympictelescope.com.
