Stargazers search out other worlds at Fundy National Park

Nearly 1,000 professional andamateurastronomers made the trek to Fundy National Park this summer in search ofcelestialstars and wandering planets.

Day and night timeviewingsof the skies proved to be the most popular it has ever been in the six year history of the park's stargazing party.

"We had closing in on a 1,000 people that participated in all theactivities over the weekend," said Denis Doucet with Fundy Park. "It's been a real success from our point ofview.Weathercertainly helped, but I mean it's been growing in popularity every year as well."

Dozens of telescopes were on-hand for the different events that spanned three days of theLabourDay long weekend. While stargazersbenefitedfrom the clear skies and favourable weather, astronomerssay the park itself is part of the reason for excellent viewing conditions.

Dark sky reserve

"It's a dark sky reserve," said David Leeman with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. "That means no lights. Where there are no lights, or light pollution, your stars, galaxies, and theMilkyWayall stand out much better."

Leeman, who has been searching the skies forworlds far beyond our own for years says that the annualget togetherletseven small children enjoy what's far fromearth.

"We were looking at Mars, Saturn, the Andromeda galaxy, star clusters, nebulae, just a whole bunch of things."

Doucet said the hobby has proven sopopularfor the park that they hope to have a newviewingplatform installed for next year's event.

"As it's Canada's 150thwe also might have some other things in store for stargazers," said Doucet. "But the largecircularviewing platform will be a highlight."