The DAS Dark Site Committee is pleased to announce the reopening of our Dark Site for a limited number of attendees starting on May 16th for initial new member orientation, and then again on May 22-24 for the Dark Sky Weekend.
Social Distancing:
With the State and County guidelines for social distancing, and our Dark Site zoned as a business, we will be keeping the attendance at the Dark site limited to 10 people at all times. Further, the warming hut will be kept closed, as we are unable to guarantee the required social distance spacing of six feet between members, nor surface cleaning inside the building. The outhouse will be open for personal needs, and we will make all reasonable efforts to ensure that it is clean. With this in mind, we ask members using the outhouse to diligently make efforts to clean high contact surfaces such as the handle and the seat before and after use. We will work to ensure cleaning supplies are present during orientation and dark sky weekends.
We require that all attendees respect Federal, State and County social distancing guidelines at all times. People unable to respect these guidelines will be asked to leave. This includes the use of face coverings. We recognize that a face covering at the eyepiece is counter-productive to observing, so we will be making an exception for active observers, while observing, who are otherwise practicing social distancing.
Lottery for entry:
In order to ensure fair and equitable access to the dark site, we will be creating a lottery system that will be available prior to the Orientation and Dark Sky weekends. You may sign up for 1 evening slot for 1 person per weekend. For the upcoming weekends the lottery days will be May 16 for Orientation, and May 22, 23, 24 for the Dark Sky weekend. Weekdays and weekends with low expected attendance will be on the first come basis on the honor system. The honor system means that if you arrive at the dark site on a non-lottery night, and there are already 10 people there, then you will leave.
The notification of the lottery being open will occur on the Monday prior to the weekend by email from the membership portal. Ensure that your email notification is up to date, and that you are successfully receiving notifications.
Lottery winners will be notified directly by email, and will be required to bring a copy (virtual or physical) to the dark site to gain entrance.
The lottery is all about luck, as is weather for a given night for the dark sky weekend. In the event of bad weather on your selected night, we will be unable to reschedule you.
Safety first:
If there are any reports of more than 10 people present, the Dark Site committee will need to reconsider the opening of the Dark Site.
Please remember that the Dark Site committee volunteers who are present are there for your safety, and are doing so at personal risk. Please exercise polite respect and restraint toward your volunteers.