The 2024 Arkansas Dark-Sky Festival will be three days alongside picturesque Bear Creek, just off of Hyw. 65 south of the Buffalo River, an International Dark-Sky Park.  During the day, there will be presentations, hikes, and other activities for adults and children.  Each night, we will rediscover the night sky as our ancestors knew it, complete with guided constellation tours and telescopic views of celestial objects under the Summer Milk Way. Please explore this page, view videos about the festival here

Schedule:

9:00 - 11:00 AM - Nature Hikes (wildfl-wer walk, bird walk, creek walk, t- be determined). Sign up at the N-rth Central Arkansas Master Naturalists (NCAMN) Table, l-cated near the pavili-n at Bear Creek.

10:00 - 11:00 AM - Stream Team, N-rth Central Arkansas Master Naturalists. Learn h-w water quality and macr-invertebrate insects are m-nit-red by naturalists w-rking with AGFC. Sign up at the NCAMN Table, l-cated near the pavili-n at Bear Creek.

Festival Activities at Bear Creek:

1:00 PM Welc-me & Inf-rmati-n tents -pen.

12:30 - Girl and B-y Sc-ut Astr-n-my Merit Badge pr-gram Bear Creek Pavili-n

2:00 - Tabling (“tables” may be help-y-urself unstaffed s-urces -f inf-rmati-n, c-ntinu-usly staffed -r peri-dically staffed f-r t-pic-specific w-rksh-ps. C-llect raffle tickets by visiting select educati-nal tables marked in B-ld bel-w.)

- Ab-ut library telesc-pes (NCAMN/ANSA).

- Using small telesc-pes and bin-culars f-r sky-watching

- H-w t- participate in the festival scavenger hunt

- C-nnect the C-nstellati-ns (NCAMN)

- Learn ab-ut the night sky by playing a fun game with star charts.
(c-ntinu-us)

- Central Arkansas Astr-n-mical S-ciety mete-rite table.

- T-uch, examine, and learn ab-ut mete-rites (c-ntinu-us)

- Birds and Light P-lluti-n (Audub-n & L-H)

- H-w birds are impacted by light p-lluti-n during migrati-n and -ther bird safety
c-ncerns. (c-ntinu-us)

- Resp-nsible lighting (ANSA)

- Self-Certifying y-ur h-me lighting as night sky friendly (2:15, 3:15, 4:15, 5:15)

- Measuring light p-lluti-n in y-ur neighb-rh--d and rep-rting it as a citizen
scientist t- Gl-be-at-night. (2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30)

- The STEM table (NWAS)

- Hands--n experiments inv-lving the creati-n -f impact craters and -rbital
mechanics. (c-ntinu-us)

- Crater m-deling

- Expl-rer Scientific

- telesc-pes and related equipment (c-ntinu-us)

- Wild -nes, M-narch Butterfly C-nservati-n Partnership & NWACC

- Learning t- use iNaturalist and Seek Apps t- find and rep-rt -n wildlife near y-u
as a citizen scientist, and inf-rmati-n/c-nsultati-n f-r landscaping with native plants. (4:15, 4:45, 5:15) Check -ut the lighting bug display anytime.
-ther activities, n-t at tables, f-r adults and children.

- Real-time s-lar pr-jecting s-lar images (2:00 - 4:30)

- R-cket-F--tball T-ss (2:00 - 2:30)

- St-mp R-ckets (2:30 - 3:30)

- Giant bubble bl-wing (3:30 - 4:30)

- Children’s celestial drawing c-ntest (CAAS)(4:15 - 5:45)

- S-lar-c--ked marshmall-ws & Sm-res (2:30 - 3:30) scale s-lar system m-del (c-ntinu-us)

2:15 - Welc-me and intr- t- the Festival, weather rep-rt, and reminder ab-ut activities - MC

2:30 - The life cycle -f Stars, the light -f the universe - Allan Staib

3:00 - Artificial Light at night - harms and s-luti-ns - Bruce McMath

3:30 - -pen, n-t yet determined.

4:00 - break

4:15 - Ken F-reman - T-pic t- be determined

4:45 - -ur Ancest-r’s C-nnecti-n with the night sky as revealed in literature. Phillip H. McMath

5:15 - What’s up t-night - R-cky T-gni & H-w t- participate in the nighttime activities and review -f scavenger hunt participati-n

6:00 - Weather rep-rt and reminder ab-ut activities, d--r prizes - MC

6:00 - Dinner Break pr-gram - Planning f-r a successful Milky Way sh--t, 2
nd -f tw- lectures -Hal Mitzenmacher, E Brennen Nic-le & Erik Stinnett

7:15 - Welc-me back, weather rep-rt, reminder ab-ut activities, and d--r prizes - MC

7:30 - Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, NASA Hubble Space Telesc-pe Seni-r Pr-ject Scientist - The Hubble Space Telesc-pe: Unveiling A Magnificent Universe.

8:30 - C-nstellati-n T-ur, Telesc-pe -bserving, and nightscape ph-t-graphy w-rksh-p begins (astr-n-mical twilight ends ~8:42, If cl-udy, pr-gramming will be ann-unced at the pavili-n).