Despite some heavy clouds, darkened at the bottom and seemingly overripe with liquid payloads, a group of local stargazers and visitors met to discuss the universe, our solar system and the mysteries they hold.

Meeting about an hour before sunset Saturday, inquisitive kids and experienced stargazers knew the skies above weren’t about to give up many secrets due to increasing cloud cover through the evening. Still, a crowd gathered to hear Casper Planetarium Solar System Ambassador Michele Wistisen discuss the virtues of looking to the heavens and her mission to reintroduce the universe to all she meets. She said there was a time when people relied on the stars.

“We’ve lost connection with the heavens,” Wistisen said.

Wistisen said when she was invited to the state park, she didn’t hesitate to jump at the opportunity.

“The more people I can educate, the better. That’s why I’m a solar system ambassador,” she said, hoping to recruit new fans to the many star parties available, as well as maybe lighting a fire in the hearts of youth to move into astrophysics and astronomy.

She wants to encourage a new generation to continue searching the universe for answers.

“There’s still a lot to be discovered ... so there’s many different avenues that you can go into in the field of astrophysics and astronomy,” she said.

She would like to see more students from Wyoming leading research in the future and pointed out some of the work college students are currently doing at the University of Wyoming, including one student mastering in black holes. Wistisen is also the president of the Rocky Mountain Planetarium Association and a board member for the International Planetarium Association.

Lynn Powers, a night skies hobbyist from Cody who has been involved in public outreach for over 20 years, agreed that connecting with the night skies — the stars, planets, black holes and other celestial properties — is important. But she took it a step further and advocates to protect the night skies from light pollution. While there are still good places to view the heavens from Wyoming, light pollution has become an increasingly problematic issue, she said.

“If you look at a dark sky map, everything east of the Mississippi River is all filled,” she said, adding that having less light pollution in Wyoming draws folks to the area. “We get people from all over the world who come here.”

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is already making firsts: Teton County has become the world’s first dark sky county, receiving the designation in April. The designation comes with a commitment over the next five years to make significant strides to darken its night sky, according to WyoFile.

“The designation is supposed to be a catalyst for change,” Founder and Executive Director of the Jackson-based organization Wyoming Stargazing Samuel Singer told the online publication. “It’s supposed to get people excited about voluntarily changing their lighting at their personal homes and residences and places of business.”

On the ground it means changing lightbulbs and fixtures; in the sky, it means reconnecting with the stars that we come from, he said.

“The stars are etched into our DNA, all the chemical compounds found in our bodies, all of the atoms other than the initial hydrogen and helium that existed shortly after the big bang, were all forged in the cores of dying stars,” Singer said. “We are star people.”

Powers said the area needs more star parties, something she travels to participate in often.

“I’d love to do one in Cody or Powell. I’d love to set that up,” she said excitedly.

Visitors Steve and Cheryle Maisel of Irving, Texas, came for the event with hopes of seeing a variety of night sky sights. Cheryle was excited to peer through a telescope for the first time.

“I had never actually seen the moon through a telescope, so I thought it’d be kind of cool to do,” she said. “It was cool but I didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked to, because of the clouds.”

New hire

The Buffalo Bill State Park stargazer event was organized by the state parks department’s newest employee, Katie Singleton; the first time the Northwestern Big Horn District has had its own interpretive ranger. However, finding the job was partially due to the Covid pandemic, she said.

“I was going into my senior year with no experience, no job and living at home. The only thing that I could think of to do was to travel and get some experience for my geography degree and environmental studies minor.”

She applied to parks all over the West, ending up at Glendo State Park for seasonal work.

“I absolutely loved it. That summer, I traveled on every single one of my days off, and then I came back the next summer after I graduated, because I loved Wyoming, working in the parks.”

She then went back to New York for her senior year and thought she’d never make it back to Wyoming. But to her surprise, a full-time position opened up three months later and she has happily been living in Wyoming ever since.

“When [the job in the Big Horn Basin] opened up, I knew I had to come over. It’s just so beautiful,” she said.

She is now part of a team of interpretive rangers in the state. They put together interpretive programs to connect visitors to state parks properties, whether they’re natural sites, the cultural heritage of Wyoming or historic sites.

“If I’m not doing programming, I’m doing community outreach and social media. We do a lot of behind the scenes work in terms of statewide coordination and putting together programs like this,” she said.

Creating programs is the whole point of her new job.

“Park staff have always done a little bit of programs and events, but when you’re trying to run a huge reservoir or really important cultural sites, it’s hard to prioritize programs. So I am here to do that, which is great, because it really brings in new visitors and or connects other visitors to our sites in new ways.”

Wyoming first hired interpretive rangers throughout the state in 2021.

For more information on summer and fall programs in the Big Horn District: wyoparks.wyo.gov