On Saturday, 16 May 2026, a Star Party was held at Oracle State Park, a DarkSky International "International Dark Sky Park" since 2014.

It was very windy during the late afternoon at the Park, but clear. Two visitors arrived early.

Park Ranger Michael Bain welcomed everyone to Oracle State Park and introduced a NASA documentary video on the James Webb Space Telescope that was shown in the Kannally Ranch House living room.

Outside, other Park visitors were enjoying being under the stars, visiting with friends.

After the video was shown, visitors were thrilled by views through telescopes provided by the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association. They got to see the planets Jupiter and Venus, colorful double stars, and star clusters under the beautiful dark night sky over Oracle State Park. Fortunately, the wind had died down after sunset.

The last of the enthusiastic visitors left a little after 10 PM. The Night Sky Quality over Oracle State Park was measured at 21.39. The result was reported to Globe at Night, an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. (Anyone can submit their night sky brightness observations using simple star charts available on the web site.)

Thanks to members of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association for once again supporting Oracle State Park.

Photos by Mike Weasner.

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