A partnership – Asterisk Observatory and NW Jet Boat Charter

Over a year ago, I met Scott Heesacker, owner and operator of NW Jet Boat Charter, at the Dark Sky Learning Lab put on by Travel Oregon and Visit Central Oregon. Based in Newberg, Oregon, Scott runs jet boat tours on the Willamette River. And he joined the Learning Lab because he wanted to start offering night sky programming as part of his guided trips. He’s got a great setup for night sky observing, and it works into his business model really well, but he is still learning the ropes stars in terms of the astronomy. So the other day Scott asked me if I would like to join a guided tour as the astronomer. I jumped aboard, both literally and figuratively.

All aboard the jet boat! Image Credit: Elena Vizziri (Travel Oregon)

We left from the dock in Newberg around 7:30pm and rode the jet boat upstream to a small riverbank beach where I set up the solar telescope just as the sun was setting. We scoped out the sun’s prominences (a bright, wispy loop of plasma extending beyond the disk of the sun along magnetic field lines) and sunspots (cooler places on the sun’s surface where the magnetic field prevents the upwelling of hotter plasma from below) and then watched the daylight disappear to dusk.

Explaining the view through the solar telescope. Image Credit: Elena Vizzini

As the waxing crescent moon settled closer to the western horizon, we went another few miles upstream to an island in the middle of the river and set up a telescope and laid a blanket out on the sand. As the day faded to night, we watched as Venus became prominent alongside the moon, followed by the appearance of Jupiter in the same vicinity a short time later. We watched bats flitting about and donated blood to the mosquitoes.

Getting the telescope set up as the waxing crescent moon, Jupiter (just left of the moon) and Venus (above left from the moon) look on. Image Credit: Elena Vizzini

As it became dark, we lay on the blanket and I pointed out constellations, told stories of celestial lore, and discussed concepts such as meteor showers, celestial navigation, and using the sky as both a clock and a calendar. We pointed the portable telescope at the cosmos and took a peek at some galaxies and star clusters.

Lying on a blanket staring into space. Image Credit: Elena Vizziri

It was a fun evening combining the thrill and excitement of a jet boat tour, the beauty of nature, and a cosmic adventure – a budding partnership of businesses joining the aquatic and terrestrial with the celestial.

Peering into the universe with the telescope set up on the river island. Image Credit: Elena Vizziri