High Desert Living

Bring your chairs and blankets and join the Landscape Committee on June 13th at 10 a.m. in High Desert Park, to welcome independent educator Derek Wallentinsen as he discusses dark skies preservation. Derek has been deeply involved in astronomy outreach and dark skies preservation throughout his life. He is a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador, NASA ASP Eclipse Ambassador and AUI Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassador, sharing astronomy knowledge with broadly diverse groups of the public. He has lived in NM since 1958 and has been active in private and public dark-sky vocations. An early activist for dark skies, Derek drafted a night-sky friendly municipal lighting ordinance in the 1970s. During his time as a National Park Service ranger, Derek was instrumental in the certification of several national parks as International Dark Sky Parks (including Dinosaur National Monument and El Morro National Monument) and was the recipient of three STAR awards. He continues as a volunteer for several public lands, monitoring their dark skies and creating various outreach programs and videos. He formerly worked at the telescope company Celestron and originated the company’s online knowledgebase. Wallentinsen has a Master of Science degree in Astrophysics. In addition to telescopes and night and day skies, he enjoys desert hiking, geology, and birds from his home base in Albuquerque. He recently published his first book Blue Skies, Red Sunsets and Company, which explores the beauty of sunlit air.