Star Gazing

For SF Bay Area homeschoolers, here is the latest email from Pt.Reyes NPS. If you have star gazing, nature loving children then this is a good list to subscribe to. Enjoy! This summer is packed with celestial events!  Keep those annular eclipse glasses handy for the Transit of Venus on June 5th beginning around 3:05 pm PDT and lasting until 8: 24 am - the planet Venus will appear as a speck against the sun.  A partial lunar eclipse of the full moon occurs early Monday morning, June 4 in the wee hours between 4:12 and 5:06 am. Fire season has begun across the park and Marin County. Fire danger ratings are posted at park visitor centers.  Use extra precaution with fires; extinguish with plenty of water.  Check power equipment for spark arresters and inspect cars parked in dry gas areas to insure no catalytic converters come into contact with grasses. In extreme fire danger - Mount Vision Road is closed. All park visitor centers will be open on Monday, Memorial Day May 28. A special Memorial Day commemoration is scheduled for 2:00 pm on Monday at the Coast Guard/Claussen Family cemetery off Sir Francis Drake Highway.  Four surfmen are buried there and a Coast Guard honor Guard will conduct a short ceremony along with park staff.  The Historic Lifeboat Station at Chimney Rock will be open from 4-5 pm. Bear Valley Visitor Center just received the new "military" annual pass for active duty military personnel and their dependents.  The one year pass allows free entrance to national parks and is available with appropriate military identification.