California: Anza Borrego
Anza Borrego State Park gets its paired name from famed Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza, who crossed this desert in 1774, and the Spanish word for sheep (“borrego”)—referring to the region’s native bighorn sheep in this desert preserve. Running about 25 miles east to west and 50 miles north to south, it is California’s largest state park, encompassing more than 600,000 acres of badlands, palm oases, slot canyons, and cactus-studded hills. It is also the site for the famous Anza Borrego metal sculptures by artist Ricardo Breceda, whose artworks range from prehistoric mammals to historical characters, dinosaurs and even a 350-foot-long serpent.
Project description
About a 2 hr drive from San Diego I made a quick one night stop at Anza Borrego to attend the Nightfall Star Party, hosted in autumn by the Riverside Astronomical Society, Inc. (RAS). The venue is Palm Canyon Hotel & RV Resort in Borrego Springs, a desert resort that creates a dark, red-light-only environment throughout the hotel property and RV park for at least three nights. The observers of the astronomy society setup a variety of telescopes under red lights to preserve night vision and offered equally varied subjects to talk about. Initially I buzzed around to capture the vibrant scene here till eventually I set the tripod and polar aligned the portable sky tracker to capture some deep space photons.
Pictures
