CANAAN VALLEY, WV— On Tuesday, July 25th at 7:30 pm at the Canaan Valley Resort State Park Main Lodge, The Tucker County Planning Commission will host Astronomer Diane Turnshek for “Stars Above,” an educational talk about Astronomy and dark sky preservation with guided stargazing at 9:00 pm at Canaan Valley Resort State Park’s Nature Center.
Diane Turnshek is an Astronomy lecturer at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh.
Turnshek has published hard Science Fiction with a focus on space colonization and first contact. Her love of both Astronomy and Science Fiction led her to crew the Mars Desert Research Station near Bryce Canyon, UT in 2012, where she turned her attention to dark sky advocacy. Turnshek runs the Pittsburgh Chapter of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDApgh.org) and is a 2015 IDA Dark Sky Defender award recipient.
Turnshek will speak about dark places, why they are so important, and what can be done to preserve them. Immediately following this talk will be a Question and Answer session in which attendees will have the opportunity to ask any question about Astronomy.
The Tucker County Planning Commission sees Tucker County’s dark skies as a unique cultural asset to be preserved for future generations’ enjoyment and for increased tourism and local economic activity. The Tucker County Planning Commission is taking steps to promote and preserve Tucker County’s dark skies as Corridor H will bring more development, and potentially more light pollution, to Tucker County.
This event is free and open to the public. In case of rain or excessive cloud cover, the talk and star gazing event will be moved to Friday, August 25 at 7:30 and 9:30 pm, respectively.
