Going, Going, GONE!
R.I.P. Goldendale Observatory International Dark Sky Park - Abandonment Complete.
In 2019 Washington State Parks stated it would attempt to re-establish the Goldendale Observatory State Park as an International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) Dark Sky Park, indicating they "intend to complete their application for Dark Sky Park status and to work with the local community to ensure that is accomplished."
In 2019 Washington State Parks stated it would attempt to re-establish the Goldendale Observatory State Park as an International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) Dark Sky Park, indicating they "intend to complete their application for Dark Sky Park status and to work with the local community to ensure that is accomplished."
In stark contrast to the above reference that a recertification as an International Dark Sky Park would be pursued, Washington State Parks has now stated that they are no longer interested in this status for Goldendale Observatory State Park. No broad public stakeholder notification, pre-decision hearing, or any other form of public process appears to have taken place.
Even though advertised as being "famous for its dark skies" - meeting International Dark Sky Park education and conservation advocacy requirements is now considered “not a good fit with WA State Parks operating policy.” This would apparently apply to any State Park in Washington: The International Dark-Sky Association requirements to provide education to the public about conserving the night sky is construed as some sort of inappropriate “activism,” and advocating support for lighting policies that protect the night sky of an International Dark Sky Park is misconstrued as "behaving in a legislative capacity."
So much for the Washington State Parks Mission, Vision, and Values to care for and provide proud support and stewardship of park assets and natural heritage experiences for future generations, or "involving the public in our policy development and decision making."
There are a number of other equally defective statements made specifically regarding the Goldendale Observatory and local night sky conservation efforts, and it’s difficult to understand how one could achieve a Dark Sky Place status of any type and not meet the IDA requirements to provide public education about night sky conservation or advocate for its protection.
Even though advertised as being "famous for its dark skies" - meeting International Dark Sky Park education and conservation advocacy requirements is now considered “not a good fit with WA State Parks operating policy.” This would apparently apply to any State Park in Washington: The International Dark-Sky Association requirements to provide education to the public about conserving the night sky is construed as some sort of inappropriate “activism,” and advocating support for lighting policies that protect the night sky of an International Dark Sky Park is misconstrued as "behaving in a legislative capacity."
So much for the Washington State Parks Mission, Vision, and Values to care for and provide proud support and stewardship of park assets and natural heritage experiences for future generations, or "involving the public in our policy development and decision making."
There are a number of other equally defective statements made specifically regarding the Goldendale Observatory and local night sky conservation efforts, and it’s difficult to understand how one could achieve a Dark Sky Place status of any type and not meet the IDA requirements to provide public education about night sky conservation or advocate for its protection.
Washington State Parks Statement: Goldendale Washington features beautifully dark skies and the city has taken steps to make them even darker with the installation of full-cutoff and dimmable LED street lamps.
Reality: Washington State Parks Goldendale Observatory Director Troy Carpenter has promoted this false narrative repeatedly, and unfortunately because of his position it appears many have swallowed this fiction hook, line, and sinker:
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Goldendale’s southern sky June 2014 left, and in July 2018 on the right with new LED street lights dimmed 25%. Markings added for discussion below.
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Carpenter - who prides himself on his Photoshop abilities - submitted the above photograph taken from the Goldendale Observatory to the City of Goldendale in July 2018, purporting to show a comparison of how the conversion from high pressure sodium (HPS) streetlights to white LED streetlights – which were dimmed 25% for a "test" – allegedly caused the night sky of Goldendale to become “clearly darker.” Carpenter explicitly stated the camera settings for the two photographs were identical. Carpenter then advised the City he desired the LED street lights to be dimmed to this 75% brightness level “during observatory showtimes.” To the untrained eye and a cursory view, the night sky certainly appears darker with the dimmed LED street lights. However, a careful examination will reveal the stars in the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius (dark blue arrows) – and the star clouds of the Milky Way (large light blue arrow) and open star cluster (circled) are brighter are more visible in the pre-LED photo on the left.
Looking at the foreground light sources is even more revealing. These sources appear almost uniformly more bright despite being out of focus in the left pre-LED picture. Note the distant wind turbine support towers are easily visible in the left hand image, and almost invisible in the right hand image:
This indicates either one or both of the images could have been manipulated. The photograph on the right showing the 2018 LED dimmed streetlight sky as being “even darker” was underexposed or otherwise altered compared to the 2014 photo on the left with HPS street lights, or the photo on the left was altered to brighten the apparent light-glow.
When City of Goldendale staff pointed out the brighter stars in the pre-LED picture, Carpenter stated it was because the stars in the left photo are slightly out of focus compared to those on the right. This statement is just another one of Observatory Director Carpenter's deliberate deceptions, as anyone who has ever done astrophotography can attest to. If the stars were identically exposed, the identical amount of light would be spread out over a larger area when out-of-focus, and therefore they would appear dimmer, not brighter, and many more stars would be visible in the in-focus star image compared to the out-of-focus star image:
When City of Goldendale staff pointed out the brighter stars in the pre-LED picture, Carpenter stated it was because the stars in the left photo are slightly out of focus compared to those on the right. This statement is just another one of Observatory Director Carpenter's deliberate deceptions, as anyone who has ever done astrophotography can attest to. If the stars were identically exposed, the identical amount of light would be spread out over a larger area when out-of-focus, and therefore they would appear dimmer, not brighter, and many more stars would be visible in the in-focus star image compared to the out-of-focus star image:
When out of focus, stars appear dimmer, not brighter.
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"Look adjacent to your bright focusing star. It’s usually possible to start seeing some of the dimmer stars on the LCD as you near perfect focus. Dim stars will become very diffuse and will nearly disappear from view if you’re not focused properly so try to find the point of focus where the dimmer stars are most visible." Ian Norman.
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The fact that Carpenter's left-side pre-LED streetlight image shows the stars are perhaps slightly out of focus (or elongated due to drift during a longer exposure), but obviously brighter, strongly indicates the exposures are not identical. Indeed, if they were in focus as on the right, they would have been even brighter than they appear. This therefore would be an invalid comparison and appears to be a deliberate act of deception on Carpenter's part. If the night sky was in reality "darker" due to the reduction of light pollution from the LED streetlight conversion and 25% dimming, the identical stars indicated in both photos should be of equal brightness – if not brighter and more visible due to the removal of interfering skyglow – in the photo on the right. Instead, it is the opposite. The terrestrial foreground lighted areas (most of which are not 3000K LED streetlights) would have been the same brightness, not dimmer.
Wide angle view of the summer Milky Way from the southern horizon to nearly overhead. Bob Yoesle
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What Carpenter's images do show is how the southern sky and the Milky Way star clouds are obscured by increased light pollution from Goldendale and Klickitat County, as seen here looking due south from 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Goldendale. Note the generally white color tone of the light pollution due to the new LED street lights installed in 2017, which emit a large amount of green and some blue light. This light colors are scattered by the atmosphere much more than the previous amber HPS street lights.
The Goldendale Observatory lies 4 times closer, located only 1 mile (1.6 km) north of downtown Goldendale. |
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Some of the most recent satellite data indicates a decrease in light pollution from Goldendale with the introduction of 3000 K LED street lighting. However, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data sees mostly yellow-orange-red and infrared light, and is almost completely “blind" to green and blue light from LED streetlights.
Therefore this data showing a decrease is a mirage. It's due to less amber light from the LED streetlights installed in 2017 compared to the high pressure sodium lights they replaced. See the street light spectrum diagrams below. |
VIIRS data trend for Goldendale.
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LED vs. HPS Street Lights
In 2017 the Department of Energy modeled the effects of LED street light color temperature on sky glow:
Under all conditions of atmospheric transparency (ATM 1-5), for a "near observer" at the edge of a city like the Goldendale Observatory, 3000 K LED (SPD7) street lights significantly exceed the sky glow produced by HPS street lights (dashed red line). For nighttime (scotopic) vision sensitivity, lumen per lumen sky glow doubles with 3000 K LED street lighting. The only LED street lighting that decreases sky glow is the SPD5 phosphor-converted amber LED.
The Department of Energy also modeled it would take a 50% reduction in 3000 K street light brightness to equal the sky glow of traditional HPS street lights (dashed red line):
The Department of Energy also modeled it would take a 50% reduction in 3000 K street light brightness to equal the sky glow of traditional HPS street lights (dashed red line):
Therefore, a 25% reduction in 3000 K LED street light output would most certainly not result in the deceptive claims of "beautifully dark skies" made "even darker" as claimed by Carpenter.
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A new study also indicates that light pollution from LED street lighting has become worse: "Open squares represent annual DMSP-OLS composite data, filled squares represent radiance calibrated DMSP-OLS data, filled circles represent VIIRS Day/Night band data. Plotted data points assume constant spectral composition of light emissions. The shaded areas represent the possible range of undetected light assuming a recent phased transition from high pressure sodium lighting to LEDs of color temperature 3000 K (dark grey) or 4000 K (light grey)." Emphasis added. As seen in the night sky photos below, light pollution from Goldendale is now worse after 3000 K LED street lights were installed than with the former high pressure sodium streetlights. |
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Below: Goldendale before and after 3000K LED streetlights. Obviously not darker after LED conversion. The "light domes" of Yakima and Goldendale are well seen. Left - July 2017 an aurora display creates the red-purple glow along the horizon. Right - July 2020 air glow creates the faint green glow along the horizon:
Below: Goldendale before and after 3000K LED streetlights. Obviously not darker after LED conversion. The "light domes" of Yakima and Goldendale are well seen. Left - July 2017 an aurora display creates the red-purple glow along the horizon. Right - July 2020 air glow creates the faint green glow along the horizon:
Michael McKeag
These undoctored photos were taken from close to the same location on Dalles Mountain Road looking north north-east. They do not indicate a decrease in the amount of light pollution from Goldendale with the conversion to 3000 K LED streetlights. If anything, the relative brightness of the "light dome" from Goldendale (enacted but unenforced lighting codes) now exceeds that coming over the Simcoe Mountains from Yakima, Washington 75 miles (120 km) to the north. Yakima replaced almost all HPS streetlights with 4500 K LED street lights, and has no lighting codes at all (except for signs).
Also note the obvious change in the color temperature of the Goldendale light pollution, and the spread of unshielded lighting throughout Klickitat County surrounding Goldendale. These images confirm that 3000 K LED street lighting worsens skyglow by a factor of two compared to HPS - and without at least 50% dimming - generally is more damaging to the night sky than previously installed HPS street lighting.
Despite being well-intentioned and clearly better than the more commonly employed 4000K to 5000K color temperature LED streetlights, the 3000K LED streetlights the City of Goldendale installed are unfortunately far worse for light pollution than the full cut-off (fully shielded) High Pressure Sodium street lights they replaced. They are only "dark sky friendly" when compared to far worse 4000K + LED streetlights, not the former HPS streetlights.
As previously noted, in 2017 the Department of Energy modeled it would take a 50% reduction in 3000 K street light brightness to equal the sky glow of HPS street lights. A real-world 2018 study of the effects of converting HPS to 3000K LED street lights in Tucson, Arizona – a city which actually attempts to enforce its lighting codes – indicated it took a 63% reduction in 3000K LED streetlight lumens to a achieve a 7% reduction in sky-glow. This real but modest decrease in light pollution would be imperceptible to most people.
It therefore is well established that, lumen-for-lumen, 3000 K LED street lights produce twice the night-sky-damaging sky glow than an equivalent HPS street light, due to the large amount of green and blue wavelengths that are efficiently produced and thereafter more widely scattered by the atmosphere.
Goldendale's 3000K LED streetlights would need to be dimmed at least 50% just to achieve the previous level of sky glow that existed with the former fully-shielded HPS streetlights. The findings of the 2018 Tucson study cited above overwhelmingly confirm this, and make Carpenter's "25% dimming" comparison photos even more suspect.
Also note the obvious change in the color temperature of the Goldendale light pollution, and the spread of unshielded lighting throughout Klickitat County surrounding Goldendale. These images confirm that 3000 K LED street lighting worsens skyglow by a factor of two compared to HPS - and without at least 50% dimming - generally is more damaging to the night sky than previously installed HPS street lighting.
Despite being well-intentioned and clearly better than the more commonly employed 4000K to 5000K color temperature LED streetlights, the 3000K LED streetlights the City of Goldendale installed are unfortunately far worse for light pollution than the full cut-off (fully shielded) High Pressure Sodium street lights they replaced. They are only "dark sky friendly" when compared to far worse 4000K + LED streetlights, not the former HPS streetlights.
As previously noted, in 2017 the Department of Energy modeled it would take a 50% reduction in 3000 K street light brightness to equal the sky glow of HPS street lights. A real-world 2018 study of the effects of converting HPS to 3000K LED street lights in Tucson, Arizona – a city which actually attempts to enforce its lighting codes – indicated it took a 63% reduction in 3000K LED streetlight lumens to a achieve a 7% reduction in sky-glow. This real but modest decrease in light pollution would be imperceptible to most people.
It therefore is well established that, lumen-for-lumen, 3000 K LED street lights produce twice the night-sky-damaging sky glow than an equivalent HPS street light, due to the large amount of green and blue wavelengths that are efficiently produced and thereafter more widely scattered by the atmosphere.
Goldendale's 3000K LED streetlights would need to be dimmed at least 50% just to achieve the previous level of sky glow that existed with the former fully-shielded HPS streetlights. The findings of the 2018 Tucson study cited above overwhelmingly confirm this, and make Carpenter's "25% dimming" comparison photos even more suspect.
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Green and blue wavelengths from LED street lights are scattered by the atmosphere much more than the amber light from high pressure sodium street lights. Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition
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As shown by the streetlight spectrums above right, the 3000K LED street lights provide a diffuse light distribution of light rather than narrow line emissions of HPS, and the predominance green-blue light is scattered twice as much compared to HPS streetlights. Moreover, you can't be considered a Dark Sky Place only when the streetlights are dimmed during the limited hours which the Observatory is open - Dark Sky Places are an all-night seven days a week experience. And why would dimming be acceptable at certain hours on certain days, and not any others?
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Replacing the High Pressure Sodium street lights in Albuquerque NM doubled levels of light pollution, and would require a similar amount of dimming just to maintain the previous HPS levels.
Further evidence countering Carpenter's "even darker" claims: As seen below Chelan County Washington made the conversion to 3000K street lighting in 2019 with an obvious increase in light pollution sky glow:
CONCLUSION: Washington State Parks Goldendale Observatory Director Troy Carpenter's statements regarding the night sky of the Goldendale Observatory having become "beautifully dark" following the installation of 3000 K LED street lights - even with 25% dimming - is completely unsupported, and verifiably false per valid and reliable modeling and real-world studies at other locations.
FAILURE TO PROTECT THE NIGHT SKY
These facts, combined with the widespread lack of public information about or general enforcement of the City and County lighting codes for commercial, non-commercial, municipal, and residential properties (where - as with most locations - a large amount of the light pollution from Goldendale and Klickitat County originates) means effectively nothing has been done to make the night sky “even darker.”
In addition to significant dimming of LED streetlights, researchers in Tucson have noted their "concern for limiting light pollution is connected to the site protection of astronomical observatories that contribute significantly to its local economy," and therefore "the biggest priority before everything else is making sure lights are shielded and that lighting ordinances are enforced" (emphasis added).
In addition to significant dimming of LED streetlights, researchers in Tucson have noted their "concern for limiting light pollution is connected to the site protection of astronomical observatories that contribute significantly to its local economy," and therefore "the biggest priority before everything else is making sure lights are shielded and that lighting ordinances are enforced" (emphasis added).
Recently installed and non-compliant with the 2017 lighting code: completely unshielded (and ~ 5000K) all night outdoor lighting 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Goldendale Observatory State Park.
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While the Goldendale and Klickitat County lighting codes have required shielding of outdoor lighting since 1979 to protect the Goldendale Observatory from light pollution, neither the City nor the County publicly disseminate information about or enforce the outdoor lighting codes for existing structures.
Furthermore, under pressure from local business and political interests, the City removed color temperature requirements identical to the new 3000K LED street lights in the draft 2017 revised Goldendale outdoor lighting code. In spite of being a well established specification for night sky conservation, Dark Sky Places, and astronomical observatories, Washington State Parks voiced no concerns or objections to removal of this and other widely accepted best practices in order to protect the Washington State taxpayer's investment in a multi-million dollar science facility dedicated to night sky observation and appreciation. |
Despite the example of the the National Park Service and many other State Park systems, and Goldendale Observatory State Park being located completely within the city limits of Goldendale and therefore totally dependent on the City of Goldendale and Klickitat County for regulatory policies for protecting the Observatory from light pollution, former Washington State Parks Director Don Hock stated to the IDA “we do not feel it is within our mission to play a lead role in efforts to influence the local regulatory environment surrounding this [night sky conservation] issue.” This contradicts RCW 42.52.8022 which allows Washington State personnel to attend and provide input for "informational and educational meetings regarding legislative issues." Moreover, State Parks would only be asking for already existing lighting codes to be enforced like any other existing laws.
Washington State Parks apparently does not now consider the "beautifully dark" night sky to be a park asset for the Observatory, or part of the Observatory's or Washington's States natural heritage. Therefore, voicing "proud support" for protecting the taxpayer's multi-million dollar investment in the Goldendale Observatory - and the "beautifully dark" night sky it is dependent on for future generations to enjoy and appreciate - is not considered a "good policy fit" by Washington State Parks...
Washington State Parks apparently does not now consider the "beautifully dark" night sky to be a park asset for the Observatory, or part of the Observatory's or Washington's States natural heritage. Therefore, voicing "proud support" for protecting the taxpayer's multi-million dollar investment in the Goldendale Observatory - and the "beautifully dark" night sky it is dependent on for future generations to enjoy and appreciate - is not considered a "good policy fit" by Washington State Parks...
Washington State Parks Statement: However, the silver-tier status was perceived as potentially too generous and the requirements attached to the status were not a good fit with WA State Parks operating policy; the dark sky status was ultimately rescinded in 2017.
Reality: This statement is pure sophistry and obfuscation. How could the Silver Tier Dark Sky Park designation have been "too generous" when Carpenter claims the night sky is "beautifully dark" and getting "even darker"?
Washington State Parks is attributing the loss of the International Dark Sky Park certification in 2017 to night sky quality and internal policy issues, rather than it having been revoked by the IDA due to Washington State Parks failure to provide previously agreed to night sky conservation education programs and conservation advocacy. It is in fact disingenuous spin control and the weaving of "alternative facts."
What "operating policy" is being referred to? Abandoning the public interest and Washington State taxpayer, Washington State Parks “operating policy” seems to be “when in Rome, do as the Romans,” effectively abandoning its Mission and Core Values to “care for” and provide “proud support” and “stewardship of park assets” and “natural heritage experiences for future generations.” These have apparently been exchanged for supporting economic exploitation, political expediency, and bureaucratic self-preservation. Carpenter himself stated "economic and commercial gain is our priority - overwhelmingly so. Absolutely." This apparently now requires capitulation to local forces opposing education about the importance of night sky conservation or voicing public support for lighting codes that promise protection of the Observatory’s night sky from light pollution.
Instead, Washington State Parks is enmeshed in a "partnership network" with the anti-regulation Goldendale Chamber of Commerce, which sees the Observatory merely as a tourist attraction. The Chamber refers to the Observatory as an “amusement park” and “marketing tool” to be exploited for "economic and commercial gain," which purpose is to “fill up hotel and restaurant parking spaces.” The City of Goldendale and its businesses apparently would be just as happy with a casino, and couldn’t care less about the Observatory's purposes, or the rare beauty of a dark night sky. Actions speak louder than words, and little real value is placed on the aesthetic, environmental, and natural heritage values of the Observatory's night sky, or the tremendous importance of a dark night sky for the Observatory's famous telescope.
Reality: This statement is pure sophistry and obfuscation. How could the Silver Tier Dark Sky Park designation have been "too generous" when Carpenter claims the night sky is "beautifully dark" and getting "even darker"?
Washington State Parks is attributing the loss of the International Dark Sky Park certification in 2017 to night sky quality and internal policy issues, rather than it having been revoked by the IDA due to Washington State Parks failure to provide previously agreed to night sky conservation education programs and conservation advocacy. It is in fact disingenuous spin control and the weaving of "alternative facts."
What "operating policy" is being referred to? Abandoning the public interest and Washington State taxpayer, Washington State Parks “operating policy” seems to be “when in Rome, do as the Romans,” effectively abandoning its Mission and Core Values to “care for” and provide “proud support” and “stewardship of park assets” and “natural heritage experiences for future generations.” These have apparently been exchanged for supporting economic exploitation, political expediency, and bureaucratic self-preservation. Carpenter himself stated "economic and commercial gain is our priority - overwhelmingly so. Absolutely." This apparently now requires capitulation to local forces opposing education about the importance of night sky conservation or voicing public support for lighting codes that promise protection of the Observatory’s night sky from light pollution.
Instead, Washington State Parks is enmeshed in a "partnership network" with the anti-regulation Goldendale Chamber of Commerce, which sees the Observatory merely as a tourist attraction. The Chamber refers to the Observatory as an “amusement park” and “marketing tool” to be exploited for "economic and commercial gain," which purpose is to “fill up hotel and restaurant parking spaces.” The City of Goldendale and its businesses apparently would be just as happy with a casino, and couldn’t care less about the Observatory's purposes, or the rare beauty of a dark night sky. Actions speak louder than words, and little real value is placed on the aesthetic, environmental, and natural heritage values of the Observatory's night sky, or the tremendous importance of a dark night sky for the Observatory's famous telescope.
No need for conserving the natural night sky or reducing light pollution here.
It completely nonsensical - to state on the one hand that the Goldendale Observatory has "beautifully dark skies" which have become "even darker" - yet state the original 2010 Silver Tier International Dark Sky Park classification was "potentially too generous" and therefore "rescinded." This is how one might explain sabotaging being an International Dark Sky Park with erroneous poor night sky quality measurements - detailed below - while simultaneously engaging in hyperbole about the night sky being "beautifully dark" and becoming "even darker" in order to help attract tourism to Goldendale.
If being an International Dark Sky Park wasn't a "good fit" with Washington State Parks "operating policy" when the International Dark Sky Parks status was initially suspended in 2016, why did State Parks bother to submit a revised and much more detailed annual report five months later to the IDA that promised to correct the previous deficiencies and provide night sky conservation education and advocacy in hopes of regaining a Dark Sky Park Status?
Apparently a "good fit" in 2016 ("preserving the dark sky at the Goldendale Observatory is part of our mission"), what "operating policy" changed between April 2019 when Washington State Parks announced they would pursue re-designation, versus now? What exact Washington State Parks Operating Policy has become not a “good fit”? How does this Policy - which apparently precludes providing education ("activism"), or policy advocacy for conserving the night sky of the Observatory ("acting in a legislative capacity") - fit with the Mission and Values espoused by Washington State Parks which allegedly includes "caring for," providing “proud support” and “stewardship of park assets,” as well as providing “natural heritage experiences for future generations”? What "public involvement" was used in making this significant operating policy decisions?
Apparently a dark night sky is no longer considered an "asset" for an expensive astronomical telescope and "heritage site" observatory. It seems a night sky substantially free from light pollution is not considered one of Washington State's "natural heritage experiences," and protecting this natural heritage is no longer considered a worthy mission.
Washington State Parks has shown a complete lack of leadership by their unwillingness to include the provision of rather minimal night sky conservation education programs at the Goldendale Observatory, and consequently there are none anywhere else in Goldendale or Klickitat County. They also have clearly demonstrated a lack of publicly voiced support for night sky conservation policies for the protection of the Goldendale Observatory and its historic telescope's night sky environment.
While public interest in the natural heritage of the dark night sky grows larger year after year, it appears that until new vision and direction is established at Washington State Parks, the Washington taxpayer’s recent nearly 6 million dollar investment in upgrading their historic public observatory, and indeed the conservation of our dark sky natural heritage statewide, will be compromised for Washington citizens and the public coming to visit from around the world.
Many take the beauty of a star-filled sky for granted, a result perhaps of modern society’s larger disconnect from nature. Designating a dark night sky as a natural treasure – as worthy of protection as a pristine mountain lake or majestic canyon – may therefore seem a bit unusual. A Dark Sky Place typically encompasses a park or community which protects the nighttime environment and offers visitors the opportunity to experience first-hand the beauty and inspiration which can be found in the night sky. They are intended to reconnect people with an aspect of nature that for most of humanity is becoming as remote and endangered as rain forests in the Amazon.
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A star-filled night sky has become a rare experience for most people. For a Dark Sky Place designation, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) requires “active participation in ongoing efforts to garner robust community support for dark sky protection. Participants serve as a beacon in their community for stewardship and passionate advocacy for the night sky.” This brings ecotourism benefits to surrounding communities, and preserves star-filled night skies for future generations.
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In 2010, thanks to former Goldendale Observatory Interpretive Specialist Steven Stout, Goldendale Observatory State Park in Washington State was awarded the prestigious distinction of being certified as one of the first-in-the-world Dark Sky Parks by the International Dark-Sky Association. Unfortunately, thanks to indifference and opposition from current State Park personnel to dark sky education and advocacy for protection, along with historical neglect by the City of Goldendale and Klickitat County in protecting its dark sky natural resource - the Goldendale Observatory State Park achieved a singular distinction:
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Currently there are 27 State Parks designated as International Dark Sky Parks in the US, with more on the way.
The Goldendale Observatory State Park is no longer one of them.
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The Details
The Details
With the arrival of Area Manager and Park Ranger Lemuel Pratt in 2013, Washington State Parks failed to provide the leadership needed to advocate for and promote the protection of the Observatory’s unique night sky natural heritage and its privileged status as an International Dark Sky Park. Pratt appeared to have little interest in science, let alone astronomy. Observatory staff revealed that Pratt voiced his personal beliefs that the universe is only 6000 years old, denied the validity of climate change science, and stated that the International Dark Sky Park designation was part of an “environmentalist agenda” he'd just as soon see "go away." Pratt’s aversion to night sky stewardship and conservation was demonstrated when he failed to ensure that any sign was put up indicating the Observatory had achieved full status as an International Dark Sky Park. Instead, Pratt had a bright blue-white LED flagpole light installed pointing up toward the sky in explicit violation of local lighting codes and in defiance of dark sky protection principles included in the Observatory’s approved Washington State Parks 2010 Lighting Management Plan.
The IDA took notice of State Park staff’s indifference toward protection of the Dark Sky Park after Pratt hired Troy Carpenter. Carpenter apparently hastily left a highly paid position at Gamesa Technology Corporation (an industrial wind power company) in New York in April 2013 before moving 3000 miles away seeking employment at a local community college wind power training program, and instead stumbled into the entry-level job as a Washington State Park Aide in May 2013. Pratt then promoted Carpenter to Interpretive Specialist for the Observatory in 2014. Carpenter submitted terse and incomplete annual reports to the IDA two years in a row, and then failed to submit one at all. Carpenter claimed he had not received the email reminder notices routinely sent to all Dark Sky Parks, and to which he had responded in the two previous years. This led the IDA to suspend the Observatory’s Dark Sky Park status on November 16, 2016 pending the receipt of a suitable report for further review. With Carpenter’s subsequent late report (SCRIBD article below), he stated his lack of interest in providing Dark Sky Park related activities or required night sky quality measurements. This fundamental lack of interest was previewed years earlier when Carpenter gave away the Sky Quality Meter provided by the IDA in 2010 which was needed to make the required regular night sky quality measurements. The IDA deemed Carpenter's late report inadequate and kept the suspension in place. Washington State Parks Interpretive Program Manager Ryan Karlson then had to take on the responsibility to rescue the Dark Sky Park status by submitting a more detailed and complete revised annual report.
Illuminating deserted streets, this LED sign - directly adjacent to the mural shown above - violates every dark-sky friendly lighting principle, has no adjustment for decreasing brightness at night, and remains illuminated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Looking the other way. Despite being an obvious vioaltion of ordinances requiring shielding of outdoor lighting to protect the Observatory's night sky, this recently installed unshielded lighting adjacent to City Hall is on all night and typical of what gets installed in the City of Goldendale and Klickitat County.
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Despite painting fanciful murals on walls, and stars on sidewalks, the City of Goldendale and the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce have historically made little effort to ensure the Goldendale Observatory’s “international importance as a leading West Coast observatory” (Mayor Mike Canon, 2016) is maintained by ensuring stars and nebulas remain visible in the sky for future generations to experience.
Unshielded lights and HPS light pollution at Goldendale Observatory. Troy Carpenter WSPRC
Klickitat County, Goldendale, and the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce have done little to educate the public about protecting the Observatory's night sky or the long-established lighting regulations intended to protect the Observatory and how best to comply with them:
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The absence of a single night sky friendly outdoor lighting fixture at a local hardware store demonstrates the lack of awareness of the lighting codes for protecting the dark night sky of the Goldendale Observatory. |
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Long-time visitors to the Goldendale Observatory have noticed that light pollution has increased in recent years. In 2014 Carpenter himself admitted “there is already too much light pollution from town to get a good view of deep space objects in the southern sky.” However, just after the IDA’s initial Dark Sky Park suspension in late 2016, Carpenter told a meeting of Portland, Oregon’s Rose City Astronomers that light pollution was a “low priority” due to being “a politically charged issue and it makes us very unpopular every time we bring it up.”
Really? With who? The vast majority of people who visit the Observatory and travel for tens or hundreds of miles or more to get away from light polluted urban and suburban night skies to an observatory which claims to be "famous" for its dark night skies harbor such feelings and opinions? How does Carpenter know?
There is no public survey data of any kind to support this bald-faced assertion. However, it does reveal Carpenter's obsession with being popular with a certain small but powerful political constituency. Even if all 3400 people living in Goldendale made such statements, it would represent less than 10% of the claimed annual visitors to Goldendale Observatory. But nowhere near that many local people visit the Observatory, and the overwhelming number of visitors coming from around the world (and probably Goldendale) likely don’t harbor such sentiments.
So who was Carpenter referring to? Certainly it was not the citizens and taxpayers of Washington State who pay his salary and own the Goldendale Observatory State Park.
What we do know is the topic of light pollution and its reduction through enforcement of the local lighting codes is unpopular with the local business and political establishment who Carpenter and Pratt wanted to hob-nob and established a Washington State Parks "partnership" with. Therefore light pollution at the Goldendale Observatory became of no interest to Pratt or Carpenter as it had previously been under Steve Stout, who achieved the International Dark Sky Park designation.
Soon after Stout retired in late 2014 a newspaper reporter called the author and proposed meeting to do a story concerning the installation of new decorative lighting at the Klickitat County Courthouse in Goldendale, which glaringly violated both city and county lighting codes. The author suggested to the reporter including Carpenter, the natural choice to represent the Goldendale Observatory International Dark Sky Park.
Really? With who? The vast majority of people who visit the Observatory and travel for tens or hundreds of miles or more to get away from light polluted urban and suburban night skies to an observatory which claims to be "famous" for its dark night skies harbor such feelings and opinions? How does Carpenter know?
There is no public survey data of any kind to support this bald-faced assertion. However, it does reveal Carpenter's obsession with being popular with a certain small but powerful political constituency. Even if all 3400 people living in Goldendale made such statements, it would represent less than 10% of the claimed annual visitors to Goldendale Observatory. But nowhere near that many local people visit the Observatory, and the overwhelming number of visitors coming from around the world (and probably Goldendale) likely don’t harbor such sentiments.
So who was Carpenter referring to? Certainly it was not the citizens and taxpayers of Washington State who pay his salary and own the Goldendale Observatory State Park.
What we do know is the topic of light pollution and its reduction through enforcement of the local lighting codes is unpopular with the local business and political establishment who Carpenter and Pratt wanted to hob-nob and established a Washington State Parks "partnership" with. Therefore light pollution at the Goldendale Observatory became of no interest to Pratt or Carpenter as it had previously been under Steve Stout, who achieved the International Dark Sky Park designation.
Soon after Stout retired in late 2014 a newspaper reporter called the author and proposed meeting to do a story concerning the installation of new decorative lighting at the Klickitat County Courthouse in Goldendale, which glaringly violated both city and county lighting codes. The author suggested to the reporter including Carpenter, the natural choice to represent the Goldendale Observatory International Dark Sky Park.
In a revealing preview of Carpenter's total disinterest in night sky conservation, and his subsequent unethical behaviors, when asked to assist in coordinating a meeting time with the reporter, Carpenter deliberately had the meeting scheduled on a day the author told Carpenter he could not attend. Pursuing his own self-interest and priorities, Carpenter claimed that after a discussion with the reporter, she had decided to make the story about Carpenter and the "more interesting" upcoming building improvements, and that she was no longer as concerned with the city violating its own lighting codes or light pollution. When contacted regarding this alleged change of topic, the reporter flatly denied such a discussion had taken place, and reiterated that the subject of her reporting would indeed be installation of the non-compliant lighting. Thereafter the meeting was rescheduled in order to elevate the courthouse lighting issue to the public’s attention, and soon afterward the lights were commendably retrofitted with shielding to become more compliant with the existing lighting codes.
While Carpenter’s delinquent 2016 annual report to the IDA paradoxically claimed he provided the “low priority - very unpopular” dark sky programs to over 20,000 people the previous year, in reality he lied to the IDA, having failed to provide a single dark sky education program. In fact, Carpenter privately stated he was prohibited by Pratt from bringing up any light pollution issues, even when off work on his own time (a violation of the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution and Section 5 of the Washington State Constitution). After the initial Dark Sky Park suspension, and despite the fact that none of Carpenter's three annual reports to the IDA included the required night sky quality measurements or accurate numbers on dark sky education programs (zero), Pratt insisted to the media that the annual reports were complete and accurate, and that light-pollution education was indeed included in the park’s programming.
Shortly thereafter, Karlson's revised annual report to the IDA admitted that no required sky quality measurements had been made after Carpenter took over as Interpretive Specialist, and showed Carpenter's education claims to be deceitful: Karlson stated that Carpenter's dark sky "education" consisted of “once per scheduled program the Silver Tier International Dark Sky Park [designation] was referenced, and questions answered when asked regarding this designation and other dark skies preservation and light pollution related topics.” Emphasis added. Further proof of Carpenter's fraudulent statements to the IDA (and that light pollution topics are not as unpopular as Carpenter would have one believe) is that when he received a request to have a presentation on light pollution, Carpenter stated “We don't normally do presentations specifically on light pollution, but can mention the problem and show some images and time-lapse demonstrating it. This would only be about 5 or 10 minutes worth of material, however, and not something I recommend visiting the observatory at a special time for.”
This so-called dark sky "education" therefore completely failed to meet the IDA's clearly defined and explicit dark sky education program requirements or Washington State Parks previous commitments to the IDA (included in SCRIBD article below). While Carpenter publicly praised the Friends of Goldendale Observatory at the Rose City Astronomers meeting for their "hard work" towards dark sky education and advocacy in lieu of any of his own (and falsely claimed he participated in this education in annual reports to the IDA), he privately condemned these efforts in writing as “wasting money on light pollution,”* and “hippie dippy activism.” Although Carpenter grandiosely stated he sees himself as “the next Carl Sagan,” he is apparently unfamiliar with Sagan’s outspoken social and environmental activism.
In a revealing preview of Carpenter's total disinterest in night sky conservation, and his subsequent unethical behaviors, when asked to assist in coordinating a meeting time with the reporter, Carpenter deliberately had the meeting scheduled on a day the author told Carpenter he could not attend. Pursuing his own self-interest and priorities, Carpenter claimed that after a discussion with the reporter, she had decided to make the story about Carpenter and the "more interesting" upcoming building improvements, and that she was no longer as concerned with the city violating its own lighting codes or light pollution. When contacted regarding this alleged change of topic, the reporter flatly denied such a discussion had taken place, and reiterated that the subject of her reporting would indeed be installation of the non-compliant lighting. Thereafter the meeting was rescheduled in order to elevate the courthouse lighting issue to the public’s attention, and soon afterward the lights were commendably retrofitted with shielding to become more compliant with the existing lighting codes.
While Carpenter’s delinquent 2016 annual report to the IDA paradoxically claimed he provided the “low priority - very unpopular” dark sky programs to over 20,000 people the previous year, in reality he lied to the IDA, having failed to provide a single dark sky education program. In fact, Carpenter privately stated he was prohibited by Pratt from bringing up any light pollution issues, even when off work on his own time (a violation of the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution and Section 5 of the Washington State Constitution). After the initial Dark Sky Park suspension, and despite the fact that none of Carpenter's three annual reports to the IDA included the required night sky quality measurements or accurate numbers on dark sky education programs (zero), Pratt insisted to the media that the annual reports were complete and accurate, and that light-pollution education was indeed included in the park’s programming.
Shortly thereafter, Karlson's revised annual report to the IDA admitted that no required sky quality measurements had been made after Carpenter took over as Interpretive Specialist, and showed Carpenter's education claims to be deceitful: Karlson stated that Carpenter's dark sky "education" consisted of “once per scheduled program the Silver Tier International Dark Sky Park [designation] was referenced, and questions answered when asked regarding this designation and other dark skies preservation and light pollution related topics.” Emphasis added. Further proof of Carpenter's fraudulent statements to the IDA (and that light pollution topics are not as unpopular as Carpenter would have one believe) is that when he received a request to have a presentation on light pollution, Carpenter stated “We don't normally do presentations specifically on light pollution, but can mention the problem and show some images and time-lapse demonstrating it. This would only be about 5 or 10 minutes worth of material, however, and not something I recommend visiting the observatory at a special time for.”
This so-called dark sky "education" therefore completely failed to meet the IDA's clearly defined and explicit dark sky education program requirements or Washington State Parks previous commitments to the IDA (included in SCRIBD article below). While Carpenter publicly praised the Friends of Goldendale Observatory at the Rose City Astronomers meeting for their "hard work" towards dark sky education and advocacy in lieu of any of his own (and falsely claimed he participated in this education in annual reports to the IDA), he privately condemned these efforts in writing as “wasting money on light pollution,”* and “hippie dippy activism.” Although Carpenter grandiosely stated he sees himself as “the next Carl Sagan,” he is apparently unfamiliar with Sagan’s outspoken social and environmental activism.
* SPEAKING OF WASTING MONEY
New concrete decking circa 2015.
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Phase 3 Grounds Renovation Patano Studio Architecture
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(Above left) Washington taxpayers reportedly spent over $50,000 for a few hundred square feet of new concrete deck and a walkway adjoining the Observatory - and then more to remove it: This exceptionally expensive concrete was demolished (area of the yellow arrow above right) to make way for the new building and landscaping construction scheduled to take place only a year or two later. Seen on the left is the "Phase 3" remodel and expansion showing the completely removed concrete deck and walkway. |
Carpenter proudly stated that he was "coordinating facility upgrades and directing Observatory operations." These funds represented an opportunity cost that could have been better expended on additional portable telescopes, new eyepieces and camera equipment, upgraded telescope components, permanent night sky monitoring equipment, much needed dome repairs, or a mobile educational outreach van with a portable planetarium.
Patano Studio Architecture
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Bechtel Planetarium, Columbia Basin College, Pasco, WA
Speaking of planetariums: An alternative facility design incorporating a twenty-first century multi-purpose & multimedia planetarium/theater/classroom (left above & above) - which can simulate a star-filled sky even during inclement weather - would have been superior to the mundane classroom with "stars" on the ceiling (left bottom) which was chosen for educational use. Based on other similar facilities costs, a planetarium-based theater classroom may have cost up to 2 million dollars, about one third of the close to 6 million dollar budget for the new facility and parking construction. Carpenter dismissed a planetarium as not to his liking, and "too expensive." No financials apparently were performed, nor was any qualified astronomy or science education stakeholder input solicited regarding this decision. |
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This highlights the root cause of most if not all of the mismanagement issues with the Goldendale Observatory: Unlike many other public and private astronomy related education organizations, Washington State Parks has not involved a broad spectrum of astronmy and science education stakeholders or relevant expertise in operating its public observatory and science education facility. Instead, it has narrowly focused on a local political constituency and its desires for tourism related economic benefits.
And speaking of "too expensive," at his November 2016 presentation to the Rose City Astronomers, Carpenter stated that an improved 24-inch telescope mirror made of much more thermally stable fused quartz (recommended by the FOGO President two years earlier) for the main telescope might cost up to $250,000 - a total fabrication. This preposterous claim was apparently made to his unwitting superiors in order to justify the purchase of an ultra-lightweight cellular mirror costing a "discounted" $25,000, which Carpenter boasted is used by NASA for spacecraft. Carpenter later claimed he desired this cellular mirror because it could be more effectively mounted - a farcical and economically unjustifiable reason used to rationalize his dubious purchase decision to naïve supervisors and the public. The real and only purpose of the alleged "NASA mirror" was marketing hype.
It is also ironic that while Carpenter never hesitates to state the the 24 inch telescope was not intended to be used for astronomical research (a lie - see History), he paradoxically chose a hugely expensive lightweight "research quality NASA mirror" for the telescope upgrade. Carpenter also claimed the cellular mirror supplier had only done business with NASA and The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) - which was also a complete fabrication. (See the references to Dream Cellular by Cowan, Lockwood, et.al. made in 2011).
Concerned that the Observatory's telescope would not likely ever be put into Earth orbit, combined with the multiple production failures and the large opportunity cost this "NASA mirror" represented, the author "blew the whistle" to the State in December 2016. State Parks was advised that optically excellent fused quartz 24-inch telescope mirrors could be obtained for half of what Carpenter was spending on the "NASA" cellular mirror, and that an excellent fused quartz telescope mirror could be produced in Washington State (a procurement requirement when appropriate and available) by a highly regarded telescope mirror maker that was originally recommended in 2014. A 25-inch fused quartz mirror from this company was subsequently purchased in 2017 and installed - potentially saving Washington State taxpayers over $12,000.
Carpenter's claim that the "NASA" cellular mirror was less expensive than a standard fused quartz mirror should have been a "red flag" for either incompetence or deliberate deception. Unfortunately, due to Carpenter's insistence on the need for the "NASA" mirror - and Washington State Parks complete lack of familiarity with telescope optics and belief that Carpenter is a "SME" - "subject matter expert" - the cellular mirror procurement was pursued, and then turned into a fiasco. State Parks made a 50% non-refundable deposit ($12,495) on the "NASA" primary and secondary mirrors, and apparently ended up losing most of these thousands of taxpayer dollars when the order had to be cancelled due to production delays of over two years. According to the cellular mirror provider, the delays resulted from Carpenter failing to first provide and then changing the specifications for the mirror's focal length, and subsequent unforeseen failures in the casting of a complex and essentially experimental large cellular primary mirror design:
It is also ironic that while Carpenter never hesitates to state the the 24 inch telescope was not intended to be used for astronomical research (a lie - see History), he paradoxically chose a hugely expensive lightweight "research quality NASA mirror" for the telescope upgrade. Carpenter also claimed the cellular mirror supplier had only done business with NASA and The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) - which was also a complete fabrication. (See the references to Dream Cellular by Cowan, Lockwood, et.al. made in 2011).
Concerned that the Observatory's telescope would not likely ever be put into Earth orbit, combined with the multiple production failures and the large opportunity cost this "NASA mirror" represented, the author "blew the whistle" to the State in December 2016. State Parks was advised that optically excellent fused quartz 24-inch telescope mirrors could be obtained for half of what Carpenter was spending on the "NASA" cellular mirror, and that an excellent fused quartz telescope mirror could be produced in Washington State (a procurement requirement when appropriate and available) by a highly regarded telescope mirror maker that was originally recommended in 2014. A 25-inch fused quartz mirror from this company was subsequently purchased in 2017 and installed - potentially saving Washington State taxpayers over $12,000.
Carpenter's claim that the "NASA" cellular mirror was less expensive than a standard fused quartz mirror should have been a "red flag" for either incompetence or deliberate deception. Unfortunately, due to Carpenter's insistence on the need for the "NASA" mirror - and Washington State Parks complete lack of familiarity with telescope optics and belief that Carpenter is a "SME" - "subject matter expert" - the cellular mirror procurement was pursued, and then turned into a fiasco. State Parks made a 50% non-refundable deposit ($12,495) on the "NASA" primary and secondary mirrors, and apparently ended up losing most of these thousands of taxpayer dollars when the order had to be cancelled due to production delays of over two years. According to the cellular mirror provider, the delays resulted from Carpenter failing to first provide and then changing the specifications for the mirror's focal length, and subsequent unforeseen failures in the casting of a complex and essentially experimental large cellular primary mirror design:
An unnecessarily lightweight, complex, and very expensive mirror design for a 0.6 meter terrestrial telescope.
State Parks was informed by the author - in years prior to and after being under time-pressure duress - of telescope mirror reality. With the imminent approach of the end of the funding biennium, and having blown the whistle on Carpenter's claims regarding the cost of a fused quartz mirror as being totally false, a modern monolithic thin fused quartz mirror was ordered and fabricated in just two months by one of the most highly regarded telescope mirror makers in the world - as recommended by the FOGO President years earlier - at a relatively modest cost of $13,000.
In May of 2019 Carpenter claimed he had "known about this guy since I was a teenager... If he's not one of the world's best mirror makers he's in the top three, who by bizarre coincidence lives in Washington State... I had no idea he lived in Washington. Because of his last name, I thought he lived in Africa or Italy or something." This is an absurd and laughable statement for many reasons, not the least of which is that it came from someone claiming to be (and formally designated by Washington State Parks) a "subject matter expert" (SME). It is even more concerning in light of the fact that FOGO's President sent Washington State Parks a detailed email in August 2014 regarding three or four highly regarded USA sources for telescope mirror testing and replacement which included Lockwood Custom Optics and Zambuto Optical Co., which apparently were never considered. In the end Washington State Parks was forced to face the music, and a Zambuto primary telescope mirror saved the day.
It appears Carpenter had deliberately decided to pursue the much more expensive and uselessly lightweight "NASA" cellular mirror solely to garner attention for - and hype himself as - the "Administrator of the the Observatory with America's best public telescope." Washington State Parks, lacking any relevant expertise and easily bamboozled by technical jargon, apparently never verified any of Carpenter's exaggerated and invented justifications, and ended up losing tens of thousands of dollars in the telescope mirror replacement process.
Note the "professorial" façade:
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On the other hand - thanks to Carpenter - the Goldendale Observatory telescope is now quite unique in all the world:
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The world’s most ridiculous telescope focuser - before (left) and after (right) the new primary mirror installation. Also note the use of the 1960's era original unmodified Cassegrain secondary mirror support vanes (aka "spider").
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In the 50-plus years since the Goldendale Observatory telescope was originally made, a great deal of knowledge and related improvements have been made in telescope design. However, demonstrating a lack of even basic telescope design knowledge and expertise, Carpenter made a number of decisions that are detrimental to the telescope’s performance. For example, Carpenter ordered the new telescope primary mirror with the focal length close to if not the same as the original f/5 Cassegrainian telescope design, instead of a more appropriate shorter focal length of an ~ f/4 primary mirror suitable for the Newtonian configuration and ideal for the existing telescope structure dimensions. Significantly, a shorter focal length primary mirror was the main argument that was made to Carpenter and State Parks for the reconfiguration to a Newtonian telescope in the first place. Combined with a relatively inexpensive coma corrector, this "fast" mirror-coma corrector optical system has been used for almost every large aperture Newtonian telescope design for decades - by both amateurs and professionals:
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Oregon telescope making guru Mel Bartels demonstrating a 25 inch f/3.6 Newtonian telescope using a very low profile focuser with a TeleVue Paracorr 2 coma corrector.
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SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS TELESCOPE DESIGN
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"The telescope features a 24” (0.6-m) F/4 Newtonian truss tube design, where a parabolic primary mirror focuses light onto a flat secondary mirror, which diverts the light to the corrective optics and the camera module. The coma from the F/4 optical system was corrected with a Televue Paracorr Coma Corrector in the focuser." University of Arizona
Improvement of Newtonian telescope performance by use of the Paracorr 2 coma corrector. On left without a Paracorr, on right with the Paracorr 2. Note the huge improvement from the coma corrector, which provides diffraction limited performance across the field. TeleVue Optics
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Carpenter's Franken-focuser: a cantilevered focuser base assembly attached to the rotation ring, with a defunct enlarger bellows serving as the support for the focuser itself. Along with the added weight of the finder telescope, this assembly is overly complex and unstable, and the focuser can be obstructed by the telescope's truss tube structure.
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The new primary mirror's focal length and positioning was apparently done in order to retain Carpenter's “unique” repurposing of an obsolete photographic enlarger bellows - secured to the telescope by trial and error. This was originally stated as being only "temporary" for using the original mirror’s longer focal length while a new mirror (which could be made at any desired focal length) was in the works.
Basic mechanical engineering principles state there is no such thing as a stable two-legged stool, and the cantilevered base plate, two-rod bellows mechanism, and pivoted focuser base support are all inherently unstable. This is especially true for such a critical component as the focuser: The focuser - eyepiece - camera would have a large moment-arm force, and most likely has an alignment issue due to the improvised cantilevered bellows mechanism. You won't find this focuser implementation on any other telescope in the world - for good reason. |
A Beseler 23C surplus enlarger bellows (~ $25 on eBay) - employed as the support base for the heavy Starlight focuser and a wide-field eyepiece. Note the additional potential for instability from the lens stage rotation mechanism, and the relatively small size of an enlarger lens compared to a larger focuser and eyepiece/camera assembly.
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Additionally, Carpenter apparently knew nothing about the importance of using a low-profile focuser for a Newtonian telescope implementation. The 2.5 inch long-travel drawtube focuser with an additional extension is inappropriate and potentially reduces the illumination at the edge of the focal plane for low power visual use and significantly vignettes full-frame large sensor and filter wheel astrophotography use. This defeats the only purpose one could have for using the six inch oversized secondary mirror.
UPDATE: Apparently having learned something about telescopes after reading this critique, Carpenter recently sold the focuser assembly at a loss of over $270 of the initial cost ($750 plus shipping). |
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A redesigned Newtonian secondary mirror support and revised secondary mirror placement (instead of repurposing the original Cassegrainian secondary mirror support) would have resulted in a smaller secondary mirror and much more stable rotating focuser implementation. The repurposing of the Cassegrainian secondary mirror spider also places the Newtonian secondary mirror below the end-rings and within the path of the truss supports, as seen above.
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The ideal implementation for both visual and large-format imaging purposes would have incorporated coma correctors, a larger diameter low profile 1.5 inch travel Newtonian focuser, and a significantly smaller 4.0 to 4.25 inch secondary mirror with an ~ f/4 primary mirror. This could have been easily accomplished with a repositioned secondary mirror location and a revised secondary mirror support such as the wire system used by Bartels (visible in the picture above). This importantly would have offered much less diffraction and enhanced contrast performance. Placing the focuser forward of the rotating ring bearing could have also avoided truss tube interference and allowed a more stable focuser mount, as shown to the right, and the examples below.
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Left: An optimized Newtonain telescope achieved by keeping the focal point distance to the secondary mirror as short as possible and using a low profile focuser, resulting in the use of a smaller secondary mirror. Right: Example of a low profile focuser implementation by an experienced telescope maker for a 22 inch telescope.
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A properly sized and configured secondary mirror and low-profile focuser could have been easily implemented, and far less costly and deleterious than the telescope's current poorly designed configuration.
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“Remember, even with the highest quality optics a Newtonian can be rendered nearly useless by tube currents, misaligned components, mirror strain, and a secondary mirror too large for the application of the instrument. An important thing to remember is to keep the distance from the secondary mirror to the focal point to a minimum. This aligns the secondary mirror in a smaller angle within the optical path that is closer to the focal point and results in a smaller [secondary] mirror... Also in keeping the secondary mirror to the focal point to a minimum one must select a low profile focuser...” Emphasis added.
Practical Calculations for Designing a Newtonian Telescope, J. Beish (August 2016)
Practical Calculations for Designing a Newtonian Telescope, J. Beish (August 2016)
Not only could the money and effort expended by Washington State Parks on Carpenter's "novel" Rube Goldberg focuser design and its multiple embodiments be used to provide for a much superior secondary mirror and low-profile focuser implementation, it likely could have purchased the Paracorr coma corrector ($490 new, ~ $350-400 used) for use with a shorter focal length primary mirror. The coma correction of an f/4 mirror used with the Paracorr is far superior to the uncorrected f/5 mirror.
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Instead, Carpenter coupled the ~ f/5 mirror design with the extended focal point to secondary mirror distance, to the purchase of an exorbitantly expensive and oversized 6 inch uselessly lightweight cellular secondary diagonal mirror ($2975) and an even more ridiculously expensive carbon fiber secondary mirror mount ($1485). Just like the extravagantly expensive lightweight cellular primary mirror Carpenter sought, this oversized secondary mirror was completely unnecessary, and degrades contrast compared to using a more appropriate smaller secondary mirror. This defeats the better contrast performance that is otherwise possible with the primary mirror, which is he main for going with a higher-end mirror from a supplier such as Zambuto for its superior optical performance. |
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Correct and incorrect location and sizing of the 24 inch telescopes secondary mirror (SM) in the Newtonian configuration. Instead of locating the diagonal mirror farther forward of the primary mirror (PM) as shown in the top figure, Carpenter located it closer to the primary mirror as shown on the bottom. This required a larger secondary mirror, which increased the secondary obstruction, which thereby decreases the superb contrast potential of the otherwise excellent primary mirror.
As described above, this appears to have been done deliberately in order to retain Carpenter's uniquely ridiculous photographic enlarger bellows focusing mechanism implementation. |
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The detrimental effects on contrast caused by increased central obstruction by the secondary mirror as a percent of aperture.
Ian Morison, Jodrell Bank, University of Manchester.
The secondary mirrors from a vendor that are manufactured by the supplier recommended by Zambuto Optical would cost $1200 for a similarly oversized 6 inch secondary mirror ($1775 savings), and only $630 for a more appropriate 4.25 inch secondary ($2345 savings).
Either secondary mirror could have been firmly supported by a well regarded and widely used secondary mirror holder ($125 and $62 respectively) and super-duty thin-vane "spider assembly" ($185), which would have saved taxpayers at least a minimum of $1175, and would be quite superior to the existing repurposing of the 1960's era Cassegrain spider (thinner vanes = less diffraction = better contrast). In fact, these are the exact same secondary mirror components that are used in the University of Arizona's 24 inch f/4 Space Situational Awareness Telescope (arrow below).
Either secondary mirror could have been firmly supported by a well regarded and widely used secondary mirror holder ($125 and $62 respectively) and super-duty thin-vane "spider assembly" ($185), which would have saved taxpayers at least a minimum of $1175, and would be quite superior to the existing repurposing of the 1960's era Cassegrain spider (thinner vanes = less diffraction = better contrast). In fact, these are the exact same secondary mirror components that are used in the University of Arizona's 24 inch f/4 Space Situational Awareness Telescope (arrow below).
A 24 inch research telescope utilizing an off-the-shelf secondary mirror support system: ~ $310.
"In order to achieve the best possible image quality from a ground based telescope, it is imperative that the entire telescope structure (and associated dome facility) be athermal with the ambient air that it is operating within. Due to its large thermal inertia, and close proximity to the optical beam path, the primary mirror is perhaps the most important element with regards to this athermalization." Tim Bond, NASA-BBSO
"In order to achieve the best possible image quality from a ground based telescope, it is imperative that the entire telescope structure (and associated dome facility) be athermal with the ambient air that it is operating within. Due to its large thermal inertia, and close proximity to the optical beam path, the primary mirror is perhaps the most important element with regards to this athermalization." Tim Bond, NASA-BBSO
GOSP telescope back plate and "mirror bucket."
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Another area of concern which indicates a substantial lack of knowledge regarding modern reflector telescope design principles is Carpenter’s deliberate decision to leave the primary mirror enclosed within the existing unmodified “mirror bucket,” which is poorly ventilated at best. Even though a fused quartz mirror has a low coefficient of thermal expansion and will retain a good optical figure through a large range of temperature changes (if properly mounted and supported), it is still a rather large piece of material and has a thermal mass that will radiate heat to the surrounding air. This creates turbulence in the mirror-to-air boundary layer and above as this heated air rises and will affect the visibility of fine detail on any extended objects such as planets and the moon.
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To reduce this turbulence and the cool-down time of large thin telescope mirrors - no matter what the substrate - the best practice is to have the mirror in the open as much as possible. More importantly, small fans are universally employed to assist in reducing the cool down time, track falling nighttime temperatures, and flush the boundary layer. A 40 degree F (20 C) day-night temperature change is typical in the summer months at the Goldendale Observatory.
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Leaving the new mirror almost totally enclosed in the unmodified and poorly-ventilated thick metal mirror bucket only insulates the mirror in a static blanket of surrounding ambient air, and can significantly extend its cool-down time. This could have been easily mitigated by simply ventilating the existing mirror bucket with fans as shown above middle and right. Instead, Carpenter - again demonstrating his near-total lack of knowledge about telescope design and alleged expertise - stated his "favorite part of the [mirror] story" is that he - in collaboration with Washington State Park Ranger Andy Kallinen who has no telescope expertise of any kind - decided they "could leave it as it was" and that "no new holes" were needed, and the telescope was "dramatically improved without chopping it up."
"Big Blue" Photo by Mike Lockwood.
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Built by amateur astronomers, the Warren Rupp Observatory in Ohio features one of the largest telescopes available to the public in the world, and is run by the local amateur astronomy club. It features a 36 inch Newtonian reflector telescope as the main instrument.
The mirror cell/tube extension holds the 36" mirror, and a large number of back and side cooling fans. The three hand-wheels are for the mirror collimation adjustment. Note the small white rollers on the left and right sides of the mirror - these are part of the mirror's edge support, which is formed by whiffletrees that go all the way around the mirror, as seen to the right and described below. |
The "Big Blue" mirror cell by JP Astrocraft.
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24 inch mirror cell with 18 point floatation and whiffletree edge support. University of Arizona.
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Mirror cell with 18 point floatation, whiffletree lateral support, and boundary layer scrub fans. Starstructure Telescopes.
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While Carpenter alleges he failed to initially consider obtaining one of the "worlds best" primary mirrors from possibly the most well-known telescope mirror maker in the USA because he erroneously assumed it was made in “Africa or Italy or something,” he had no problem getting other critical components abroad. However, given the foregoing issues, there is reason to question the design of the mirror’s supporting cell, described as being a “plate” (singular) made in England, when state-of-the-art primary mirror cell makers are well known and available nearby in the USA, and 18 point multiple-plate floatation mirror support cells are the standard for a 25 inch mirror. This is especially important for a large thin mirror as is now employed in the GOSP telescope, in order that it doesn't deform under its own weight. Carpenter appears to believe that because fused silica is "harder than regular glass" it therefore is immune to flexure, which is absolutely not the case. Fused silica is 12% stiffer than Pyrex (borosilicate glass), but 20% heavier per cubic mm, so it would flex more under its own weight because the identical mass of mirror would be thicker with Pyrex. Next to the primary mirror quality itself, proper support of the primary mirror is the most important consideration - and critical to its optical performance.
Shown at right are two state-of-the art mirror cells made in the USA. Note these employ the same whiffletree multiple-point flotation design used in the University of Arizona's Space Situational Awareness instrument shown above. Such a mirror cell could have been easily afforded (~ $1,600 to $3,000) with the savings from the aborted "NASA" cellular mirror. Unfortunately, Carpenter's choice of an even larger fused quartz mirror (25 inches in diameter versus the original mirror's 24.5 inch aperture) was not only inappropriate (and a waste of money) due the telescope's smaller front truss ring flange inside diameter* (an "aperture stop" that renders the increased aperture worthless) - the larger mirror now makes using such a mirror cell with whiffletree roller lateral support almost if not completely impossible using the existing mirror bucket support structure. There quite likely is simply not enough clearance between the mirror and the bucket wall. Otherwise, given the new mirror is 4 inches less thick than the original mirror, there would likely have been more than enough room in the existing "mirror bucket" for the requisite fans and a best-practices mirror support structure. |
Examples of micro-deformations of telescope mirrors.
25 inch 18 pt flotation whiffletree ALT-AZ implementation by JP Astrocraft.
18 pt flotation with whiffletree equatorial mirror cell implementation by Aurora Precision.
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* Carpenter was aware of this issue, but apparently chose to ignore it. The front secondary support truss ring should be large enough to allow a cone of light that subtends at least +0.5 degree on the optical axis to pass through the entrance of the telescope without obstruction. For a 25 inch f/5 primary mirror, this would be about 26.5 inches. Given the telescope's undersized diameter truss flange ring(s), a 23-24 inch ~ f/4 mirror would have been the most appropriate diameter/focal length mirror for the telescope's existing structure.
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The proper sizing of a Newtonian primary mirror and secondary support cage (note low-profile focuser). The angle shown has been exaggerated for clarity. D. Kriege & R. Berry.
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An Ed Byers custom designed and built 27.5 inch f/4 Newtonian telescope.
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The Edward R. Byers Co., with over 60 years of telescope building experience, was strongly recommended to Washington State Parks as a consultant for the Newtonian conversion at the beginning of the telescope upgrade process in 2014 - and then again in 2016 - particularly for the telescope secondary mirror support and rotating focuser implementation. Byers was a legend in the astronomy community, and built an excellent example of a large Newtonian telescope as seen here. Note the precision upper secondary mirror rotating assembly and low profile focuser.
However, Carpenter - with no previous telescope design or building experience - felt he could MacGyver a solution, proving once again you get what you pay for. What is truly amazing is that Washington State Parks would pay $50,000 or more for a relatively small amount of temporary concrete work, while skimping on the valued heritage telescope asset itself, and end up with the embarrassingly incompetent results detailed above. |
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August 20, 2014 "It's important to repeat that we already have in storage a secondary mirror assembly that will work in a Newtonian configuration. The only custom work needing to be done is a provision for rotation (Teflon or roller-bearings) and finding a way to affix the new focuser to the side of the assembly. This can be accomplished in many different ways by anyone with metal (or possibly wood-working) skills. In other words, while I appreciate the genius expertise of guys like Ed Byers, it may be a waste of money to secure his services in this particular instance." Troy J Carpenter, Interpretive Specialist Goldendale Observatory State Park Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission |
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As demonstrated above, Carpenter has well-established credentials in the "waste of money."
And while Carpenter boasts he’s the “Administrator of the Observatory with America’s best public telescope," this pretentious claim obviously isn't even close to reality.
Unfortunately, these costly and difficult-to-remedy GOSP telescope modification errors were inevitable given Washington State Park’s lack of familiarity with all things astronomical, compounded by a defective process for consulting an individual who appears to believe (and convinced others less knowledgeable) that he is a "subject matter expert" about all things astronomical, without any independent or objective verification of the requisite knowledge and skill sets. This is exacerbated by an unwillingness to seek outside consultation on almost any aspect of specialized observatory operations and equipment for which there is little familiarity, let alone expertise. It clearly demonstrates the lack of organizational and project management competence, and reinforces the need for knowledgeable and qualified independent oversight when making important decisions regarding the Washington State taxpayer's Observatory and its celebrated telescope in order to avoid a similar "waste of money."
And while Carpenter boasts he’s the “Administrator of the Observatory with America’s best public telescope," this pretentious claim obviously isn't even close to reality.
Unfortunately, these costly and difficult-to-remedy GOSP telescope modification errors were inevitable given Washington State Park’s lack of familiarity with all things astronomical, compounded by a defective process for consulting an individual who appears to believe (and convinced others less knowledgeable) that he is a "subject matter expert" about all things astronomical, without any independent or objective verification of the requisite knowledge and skill sets. This is exacerbated by an unwillingness to seek outside consultation on almost any aspect of specialized observatory operations and equipment for which there is little familiarity, let alone expertise. It clearly demonstrates the lack of organizational and project management competence, and reinforces the need for knowledgeable and qualified independent oversight when making important decisions regarding the Washington State taxpayer's Observatory and its celebrated telescope in order to avoid a similar "waste of money."
A Small Lesson Learned - And A Large Lesson Not:
It is gratifying to see Carpenter has apparently gained some on-the-job training about telescope central obstructions thanks to the critique of the significantly flawed 24 inch telescope refurbishment. Unfortunately, rather than admit past failures and remediate the problems with his 24 inch reflector implementations, he now appears to want to throw more good money after bad by pursuing a “planet killer” Cassegrainian telescope with a “small central obstruction” for “narrow-field [i.e. high-magnification] visual use.”
First, there are no such commercially made small-obstruction Cassegrain or Dall-Kirkham instruments, and it would generally have to be a custom-built set of optics and telescope employed for such a one-off telescope design – and therefore likely more expensive. Welcome back to the cellular mirror fiasco scenario.
Second, for “narrow-field visual use” such as higher-magnification lunar and planetary observing, implementing a "small central obstruction" by using a 4 inch (instead of the current 6 inch) interchangeable Newtonian secondary diagonal mirror system (16% obstruction vs. the current 25%) could with some effort be accomplished with the 24 inch telescope – for less money. This would take full advantage of the wasted high-contrast "planet killer" potential of the premium quality Zambuto primary mirror – which already cost a pretty penny. The use of a high-quality 2-4 x Barlow lens with this f5 primary mirror could readily accomplish the goal of having a ~ f10-20 focal ratio if desired. Once again, this implementation is apparently beyond Carpenter’s knowledge base and skill set, or is being deliberately disregarded as an option, as initially occurred with the fused quartz telescope mirror acquisition.
Third, this situation again reveals Carpenter's 24 inch primary mirror replacement and procurement was defective. The new primary mirror easily could and should have included a central hole prior to grinding and figuring for the option of using an interchangeable small central obstruction secondary mirror for the Cassegrainian configuration. Ironically, the Cassegrainian telescope configuration with the primary mirror hole had been used from the beginning with the original mirror (see the Sky & Telescope Amateur Astronomers article's picture below), and therefore small Cassegrainian secondary mirrors are available, along with an elaborate custom-made Cassegrain focuser system. This dual Newtonian-Cassegrainian configuration was included in many of the 1960’s telescope designs:
First, there are no such commercially made small-obstruction Cassegrain or Dall-Kirkham instruments, and it would generally have to be a custom-built set of optics and telescope employed for such a one-off telescope design – and therefore likely more expensive. Welcome back to the cellular mirror fiasco scenario.
Second, for “narrow-field visual use” such as higher-magnification lunar and planetary observing, implementing a "small central obstruction" by using a 4 inch (instead of the current 6 inch) interchangeable Newtonian secondary diagonal mirror system (16% obstruction vs. the current 25%) could with some effort be accomplished with the 24 inch telescope – for less money. This would take full advantage of the wasted high-contrast "planet killer" potential of the premium quality Zambuto primary mirror – which already cost a pretty penny. The use of a high-quality 2-4 x Barlow lens with this f5 primary mirror could readily accomplish the goal of having a ~ f10-20 focal ratio if desired. Once again, this implementation is apparently beyond Carpenter’s knowledge base and skill set, or is being deliberately disregarded as an option, as initially occurred with the fused quartz telescope mirror acquisition.
Third, this situation again reveals Carpenter's 24 inch primary mirror replacement and procurement was defective. The new primary mirror easily could and should have included a central hole prior to grinding and figuring for the option of using an interchangeable small central obstruction secondary mirror for the Cassegrainian configuration. Ironically, the Cassegrainian telescope configuration with the primary mirror hole had been used from the beginning with the original mirror (see the Sky & Telescope Amateur Astronomers article's picture below), and therefore small Cassegrainian secondary mirrors are available, along with an elaborate custom-made Cassegrain focuser system. This dual Newtonian-Cassegrainian configuration was included in many of the 1960’s telescope designs:
A common implementation of a dual purpose Newtonian & Cassegrainian telescope utilizing the same primary mirror (PM) with a central hole with different secondary mirrors (SM).
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Cave Optical 16 inch Newt-Cass from circa 1964.
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The 24 inch telescope's now useless custom-made multi-port Cassegrain focusing assembly.
Unfortunately the Cassegrainian configuration is now unavailable with the current Zambuto primary mirror, as any coring and removal of the central hole region would release small internal stresses in the fused quartz substrate, and would distort the mirror's excellent optical figure. This would require the mirror to be reground, polished and re-figured at almost the cost of a new primary mirror.
Fourth, the Goldendale Observatory already has a narrow-field high-power visual instrument larger than 10 inches in the well reviewed Celestron 14 telescope. While the C14 has a 32% central obstruction, this is far better than most other commercially available Cassegrain and Dall-Kirkham compound reflector telescopes. The C14 is also used by some of the best planetary imagers on the planet (see here, here, here, and here), and is used by many colleges and universities for education and astronomical research. Apparently Carpenter feels the C14 telescope is a bit too ordinary and ubiquitous for his tastes.
Next up on Fantasy Island, and in pursuit of having no central obstruction, is the desire for a 6 to 11 inch f10 to f15 refractor objective, "preferably" “ED doublets or true [?] triplets” (i.e. an apochromatic objective), the real purpose (as with the 24 inch cellular primary and secondary mirrors fiasco) being its “uniqueness” for marketing the Observatory:
First, the Observatory already has a "classic" 1960's Jaegers achromatic 6 inch f15 refractor carried on the main 24 inch telescope.
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Volunteer at the Goldendale Observatory shows the 6 inch refractor telescope focuser and eyepiece. The Cassegrain focuser of the main 24 inch telescope is in the lower left corner.
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Second, almost every apochromatic (APO) ED or triplet refractor will be f6 to f8, as this is their claim to fame and purpose. These apochromatic short focal ratio (for a refractor) telescopes generally have much better (but not perfect) color correction compared to a comparable achromatic (ACHR) refractor telescope:
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Typical longitudinal chromatic aberration in refractor objectives. Black circles in the spot patterns are the Airy disc diameters on and off-axis.
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Also note that the larger the refractor objective lens (whether an achromatic or apochromatic), the longer the focal ratio has to be in order to suppress chromatic aberration to a comparable level of correction of a smaller objective lens:
Chris Lord
Third, demonstrating Carpenter's lack of real-world telescope experience and relevant knowledge, large 6 to 11 inch f10 to f15 doublet or triplet apochromatic refractor objectives or telescopes are almost as rare as unicorns – and like the abandoned 24 inch cellular mirror, these larger long-focus apochromats are horrendously expensive. For example: $29,000, $33,260, $47,800, $78,000, and if Carpenter really wants to boast he has the best, he could get this 12 inch f12 triplet objective for a mere $142,300. These would remain very expensive even if they could be found on the used market at about 80-90% of their new price. Indeed, many of these telescopes – such as those once made by Astro-Physics – sell for much more than their original inflation-adjusted list prices on the used market:
This "bargain-basement" priced 7 inch f9 Astro-Physics triplet APO refractor telescope originally sold for $3,600 when it was first introduced 30 years ago, and is priced 50% higher than the inflationary change that has taken place from then to now.
Similarly priced, here's another fine example of a "unique" long-focus apochromatic refractor telescope. Carpenter could opt for this very rare Carl Zeiss – one of the most respected names in optics – 6 inch f15 telescope of unparalleled optical quality to replace the Goldendale Observatory's existing 6 inch f15 refractor:
These are the most expensive telescopes and telescope objectives per inch of aperture currently produced. Note the above 7 inch Astro-Physics and Zeiss refractors now cost more than the 24 inch Zambuto primary mirror. Unique as they are, no one but a "cost no object" “refractor nut” – or someone with little knowledge of real-world telescope optics – would pursue such instruments. A twice the aperture Celestron 14 telescope ($6,500 new) will absolutely kill both of them for "narrow-field visual use."
If Carpenter is indeed considering a long-focus 6 to 11 inch f10 to f15 achromatic refractor objective to replace the existing 6 inch f15 telescope, the highly regarded ISTAR Optical achromatic objectives are readily available for vastly less money.
It should also be noted that a well-made, long focal-length Newtonian reflector has many advantages over such a refractor. It has no chromatic aberration, and utilizing a curved or wire secondary mirror support or an optical window – combined with a small secondary mirror obstruction for low diffraction – can almost equal a similar aperture apochromatic refractor for a tenth of the cost. When the reflector aperture exceeds the refractor by as little as 10-15%, there is little if any difference, and above that, the long-focus Newtonian reflector wins hands down.
But all of the above alternatives for a perfectly color-free, unobstructed, long focal ratio, narrow-field telescope are completely unnecessary. All Carpenter would have to do is what NASA, professional astronomers, and many amateur astronomers do for large aperture unobstructed optics: employ an off-axis paraboloidal mirror. For the cost of a piece of cardboard, which can easily be added and removed whenever desired, Carpenter could have the equivalent of a $47,000 228 mm (9 inch) apochromatic refractor objective lens by simply using an off-axis mask for the 24 inch telescope:
But all of the above alternatives for a perfectly color-free, unobstructed, long focal ratio, narrow-field telescope are completely unnecessary. All Carpenter would have to do is what NASA, professional astronomers, and many amateur astronomers do for large aperture unobstructed optics: employ an off-axis paraboloidal mirror. For the cost of a piece of cardboard, which can easily be added and removed whenever desired, Carpenter could have the equivalent of a $47,000 228 mm (9 inch) apochromatic refractor objective lens by simply using an off-axis mask for the 24 inch telescope:
A 9 inch f13.5 unobstructed perfectly apochromatic telescope. Lower diagram not to scale.
Again demonstrating a lack of knowledgeable and qualified oversight and management by Washington State Parks – akin to the previous attempted purchase of a hugely expensive and unnecessarily lightweight cellular primary mirror for the 24 inch telescope – Carpenter is pursuing highly dubious and expensive telescope procurements only for their perceived “pizzazz.” Washington taxpayers got a new and expensive observatory building that has won architectural recognition by hiring professional architectural and construction firms. Unfortunately, Washington State Parks apparently won’t do the same for what really matters most for an observatory – its telescopes.
The only priority for the Goldendale Observatory State Park under Carpenter – and therefore in a Washington State Parks universe that excludes external expertise and stakeholder input – apparently is marketing hype. This is what one might expect from an individual who appears mostly concerned with promoting an image as a "subject matter expert" where no expertise exists – the Dunning-Kruger effect – and as demonstrated below – seems to prefer to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce marketing universe.
The taxpayers of Washington State will once again pay dearly for this extravagance and exacerbation of the previous misappropriations and telescope procurement and modification mismanagement.
Again demonstrating a lack of knowledgeable and qualified oversight and management by Washington State Parks – akin to the previous attempted purchase of a hugely expensive and unnecessarily lightweight cellular primary mirror for the 24 inch telescope – Carpenter is pursuing highly dubious and expensive telescope procurements only for their perceived “pizzazz.” Washington taxpayers got a new and expensive observatory building that has won architectural recognition by hiring professional architectural and construction firms. Unfortunately, Washington State Parks apparently won’t do the same for what really matters most for an observatory – its telescopes.
The only priority for the Goldendale Observatory State Park under Carpenter – and therefore in a Washington State Parks universe that excludes external expertise and stakeholder input – apparently is marketing hype. This is what one might expect from an individual who appears mostly concerned with promoting an image as a "subject matter expert" where no expertise exists – the Dunning-Kruger effect – and as demonstrated below – seems to prefer to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce marketing universe.
The taxpayers of Washington State will once again pay dearly for this extravagance and exacerbation of the previous misappropriations and telescope procurement and modification mismanagement.
Getting back to "wasting money" on "hippy-dippy" dark sky "activism."
DarkSkies Northwest IDA Chapter leader David Ingram, who attended Carpenter's Rose City Astronomers presentation, noted that while Carpenter spoke at length about the forthcoming building and telescope improvements - and took the opportunity to ridicule his predecessor Stout for his dark sky advocacy efforts - he completely failed to mention that Goldendale Observatory was an International Dark Sky Park.
However, on December 30, 2016, Washington State Parks Director Don Hoch assured the IDA that Carpenter’s “low priority” views on light pollution were “not reflective of State Parks position on the issue.” Carpenter didn’t get the memo. In April 2017 - while the Dark Sky Park certification remained suspended pending Karlson's revised submission - Carpenter again publicly stated “It's true, dark skies are not a high personal priority for me,” this time citing what he perceives as the more important capital facilities and building improvements he seeks to get attention for. Yet it is difficult to understand why one would be incompatible with the other, as there are minimal budgetary or time allocation issues in meeting the IDA dark sky programming requirements (see SCRIBD document below). Regardless, at this point the IDA likely had little doubt concerning the sincerity with which Carpenter emphasized his lack of interest in dark sky programming or advocating for the protection for one of the more prestigious International Dark Sky Parks in the world.
DarkSkies Northwest IDA Chapter leader David Ingram, who attended Carpenter's Rose City Astronomers presentation, noted that while Carpenter spoke at length about the forthcoming building and telescope improvements - and took the opportunity to ridicule his predecessor Stout for his dark sky advocacy efforts - he completely failed to mention that Goldendale Observatory was an International Dark Sky Park.
However, on December 30, 2016, Washington State Parks Director Don Hoch assured the IDA that Carpenter’s “low priority” views on light pollution were “not reflective of State Parks position on the issue.” Carpenter didn’t get the memo. In April 2017 - while the Dark Sky Park certification remained suspended pending Karlson's revised submission - Carpenter again publicly stated “It's true, dark skies are not a high personal priority for me,” this time citing what he perceives as the more important capital facilities and building improvements he seeks to get attention for. Yet it is difficult to understand why one would be incompatible with the other, as there are minimal budgetary or time allocation issues in meeting the IDA dark sky programming requirements (see SCRIBD document below). Regardless, at this point the IDA likely had little doubt concerning the sincerity with which Carpenter emphasized his lack of interest in dark sky programming or advocating for the protection for one of the more prestigious International Dark Sky Parks in the world.
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Carpenter privately stated many times his main objective is to make a name for himself before moving on to greener pastures. This may help to explain his lack of interest in long-term night sky protection for the Observatory, along with the preoccupation with the capital facilities improvements he hopes to take credit for (which included the aborted "NASA mirror" debacle), as well as emphasis on a need of attention and being "popular" via exaggerated visitor counts. He appears to have little to no interest with involving amateur astronomers with the Goldendale Observatory - one of the original constituencies for the Observatory.
Despite complaining about "incompetent" ancillary State Park Aides who lack astronomy or telescope familiarity (ironic given the foregoing telescope upgrade issues), when the President of the Rose City Astronomers offered to assist with providing volunteers at the Observatory in exchange for off-hours telescope time, Carpenter condescendingly stated the telescope was “not a toy." When RCA member's participation as docents was discussed, Carpenter stated that he didn’t want the Observatory “to become a club house.” These insulting comments were not befitting of these amateur astronomers, many whose decades-long knowledge and abilities in astronomy and handling of sophisticated telescope equipment far exceeds Carpenter's. The reality is that the telescope was originally and explicitly intended to be available for use by amateur astronomers, and was indeed built by amateurs. However, as will be shown, it's no surprise that Carpenter has convinced his superiors that amateur astronomers are an insignificant visitor constituency, and therefore their concerns, including protecting the Observatory’s night sky, are essentially irrelevant to the Observatory's "amusement park" and Carpenter-entertainment operation. |
Sky & Telescope Magazine, 1977
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Sophisticated well-equipped amateur astronomers from Portland, Seattle, and the Tri-Cities could be advantageous as volunteers and docents in helping with Observatory programs and providing additional telescopes and personnel to operate them during peak visitation periods.
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Carpenter appears uninterested in (or perhaps intimidated by) such collaboration, even though participation of amateur astronomer volunteers was originally an integral part of the Observatory operations, and volunteers figure prominently in the State Parks Strategic Plan in order to "leverage resources and make parks welcoming to visitors."
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More troubling, Pratt and Carpenter allied with then Goldendale Chamber of Commerce Director Dana Peck in their opposition to promoting meaningful dark sky stewardship measures. Peck, who like Pratt has absolutely no knowledge of astronomy, telescopes, or observatories, has actually been invited as an interviewer on the hiring committee at the Observatory. Although he champions the Observatory for tourism, Peck outright rejects enforcement of Goldendale and Klickitat County lighting codes intended to protect the Observatory’s night sky. The Chamber’s value for the Goldendale Observatory was summarized by its Vice President Jonathan Lewis, who equated it to an “amusement park," and when asked about his interest in astronomy stated “the Chamber sees the Observatory as key to getting people to stay at the hotels.” Peck and Lewis know where their bread is buttered:
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The Goldendale Quality Inn Hotel is operated by Washington State Representative Gina Mosbrucker, a former VP and Executive Director of the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce. Mosbrucker personally intervened (see below) to remove provisions from Goldendale's proposed 2017 lighting code revision that would have better protected the night sky of the Goldendale Observatory State Park.
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Mosbrucker strongly opposes "burdensome" regulations on businesses such as lighting codes, and publicly stated as a "property rights person" she believes "you should be able to do what you want with your own land."*
* See Mosbrucker's hilariously inept and evasive reply at the October 7, 2022 Candidate Night, from 1:31:34 to 1:32:44.
We can't wait to hear from Representative Mosbrucker when an adjacent property owner decides to put an odiferous water polluting pig farm next to her hotel.
* See Mosbrucker's hilariously inept and evasive reply at the October 7, 2022 Candidate Night, from 1:31:34 to 1:32:44.
We can't wait to hear from Representative Mosbrucker when an adjacent property owner decides to put an odiferous water polluting pig farm next to her hotel.
Typical pig farm with its smelly pig waste lagoon.
Peck is little more than a henchman and minion for Klickitat County business interests. Even though the Observatory has belonged to the State and all its citizens since 1980, in 2003 amateur astronomers not residing in Goldendale or Klickitat County were apparently disparaged by a few locals as “outsiders” due to their advocacy for implementation of long-ignored city and county lighting codes to protect the Observatory’s night sky, especially by those concerned with building of the Calpine (now Puget Sound Energy) gas turbine power plant. According to the Friends President at the time, Peck (then Director of Klickitat County Economic Development) participated in (and per a local reporter takes credit for organizing) a coup of Goldendale locals that removed the amateur astronomers from the Friends Board of Directors, which thereafter left Peck in place as a the Board President. The Friends group was immediately disbanded by Peck and his allies. Peck’s Machiavellian ends-justify-the-means behavior and unwillingness to be an authentic advocate for night-sky protection is therefore well known in the amateur astronomy community.
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Before being shut down by Peck and his associates, Interpretive Specialist Steven Stout and Friends of Goldendale Observatory members met with Calpine officials to help ensure the use of full cutoff ("fully shielded") lighting fixtures which complied with the Goldendale and Klickitat Co. lighting codes. The result is a dramatic reduction in scattered light and resulting skyglow, as seen above on the right compared to the unshielded and partially shielded out-of-compliance lighting fixtures found throughout Goldendale and Klickitat County. Downtown Goldendale in center, Hwy 97 & Simcoe Road business complex on left in 2014.
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Instead of Washington State Parks advocating for lighting code compliance in order to protect the night sky of the Observatory, it seems Pratt and Carpenter influenced Washington State Parks Director Don Hoch to naively inform the IDA that the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce would be part of a "partnership network" to provide advocacy for regulatory compliance with lighting codes. Under Peck this is equivalent to stating the Klu Klux Klan will be a partner for promotion of enforcement of anti-discrimination laws - a ludicrous proposition at best.
Moreover, the IDA does not allow the re-assignment or contracting out of the responsibilities required for Dark Sky Park Certification, including that “participants serve as a beacon in their community for stewardship and passionate advocacy for the night sky.” Indeed, for Dark Sky Parks the IDA includes "cooperation with at least two nearby municipalities that results in adoption of lighting policies that improve sky conditions in the Park." One would think this would include encouraging support for regulatory compliance with the already existing outdoor lighting codes and best practices, which the IDA considers an important tool for protecting the night sky. Indeed, enforcement of lighting codes is critical to limit the adverse "off-site" impacts of outdoor lighting.
Moreover, the IDA does not allow the re-assignment or contracting out of the responsibilities required for Dark Sky Park Certification, including that “participants serve as a beacon in their community for stewardship and passionate advocacy for the night sky.” Indeed, for Dark Sky Parks the IDA includes "cooperation with at least two nearby municipalities that results in adoption of lighting policies that improve sky conditions in the Park." One would think this would include encouraging support for regulatory compliance with the already existing outdoor lighting codes and best practices, which the IDA considers an important tool for protecting the night sky. Indeed, enforcement of lighting codes is critical to limit the adverse "off-site" impacts of outdoor lighting.
Given that Washington State Parks under Pratt and Carpenter had abandoned all dark sky conservation advocacy and education required for the Certified International Dark Sky Park status, FOGO incorporated this activity into their presentations and website education, and also produced and printed the "Good Neighbor Lighting" brochure to educate the public about night sky conservation to protect the Observatory. Apparently this was not acceptable to Pratt and Carpenter. Carpenter referred to this night sky conservation advocacy as "vandalism" of the FOGO website he secretly owned, a "waste of money," and "pandering to amateur astronomers."
Carpenter's only interest for the FOGO website was to essentially duplicate the Washington State Parks Observatory webpage, stating he was frustrated with the "incompetent assholes" who were "slow and got things all messed up" regarding updating the Observatory's operating hours, etc. While the Friends website covered these issues in detail (and still does), Carpenter would later suggest the Friends split-up the FOGO website and have a separate duplicate Observatory operations website for him (paid for by FOGO of course), and another for the Friends.
Carpenter, who refers to himself as a "computer wiz" and offered FOGO's Treasurer Earlene Sullivan "help" with setting up the reconstituted Friends group website and PayPal account in October 2015, admitted publicly that he, Peck, and Lewis – with Pratt's knowledge and approval – conspired in having the Chamber of Commerce take over the Friends website in April 2017.
Prior to this, Scott Griffith, Washington State Parks East Region Manager stated "our obligation is to not have Troy participating in that website development or access to it or ownership of it, so we’ll own that." Therefore, Carpenter was prohibited from "any involvement with or ownership" of the Friend's website (or financial accounts) per Griffith - who charged Pratt with the execution of this policy - but apparently failed to follow up with Pratt to ensure this had taken place. This prohibition of involvement and ownership was also confirmed by former Washington State Parks Goldendale Observatory Interpretive Specialist Steve Stout, who had worked with the previous incarnation of the Friends and submitted information to them regarding the Observatory for their website - without any direct or indirect involvement with the website itself. Carpenter unabashedly and publicly stated that "FOGO was a formality to get around a policy I had every intention of violating."
Carpenter indeed secretly owned both the website domain and URL, and stated that East Region Manager Griffith was "oblivious to the details of it," which could imply overall knowledge, but would allow plausible deniability for Griffith. In any event, knowing he was prohibited from owning or operating the FOGO website, Carpenter stated that while he didn't initially want to have an Observatory Friends group, he came to value the idea "because I needed to have someone pay for the darn website" which he could set up and covertly own. This is confirmation of intent and knowledge of what he was doing was prohibited.
This is a stunning display of the lack of managerial oversight and policy enforcement by Washington State Parks. Without informing the Friends Board of Directors including the FOGO Treasurer responsible for the setting up the Friends PayPal and website accounts with Carpenters "help," Carpenter made himself the owner of the website domain and primary contact for the completely independent 501c3 non-profit corporation's PayPal account - and gave himself access to all records and transactions, including the ability to generate invoices and receipts without permission or approval:
"I had complete absolute total access to every aspect of their finances. I had the credit card number, their signature, expiration date, a pin code, checking account number, and I even conducted transactions using their finances – with permission, of course – and I bought stuff... I had absolute, unfettered access to their finances, was generating multiple invoices on their behalf – I’ve generated about 12 invoices in 12 months. I was literally doing everything for FOGO… because they were unable to."
Note that Carpenter claimed that he had "permission" to be in charge of and manage FOGO finances. Permission from who - the Tooth Fairy? He certainly didn't have permission from the FOGO President, or the current FOGO Treasurer who took over from Earlene Sullivan after she resigned due to health issues. And if referring to Sullivan, she had no permission from the FOGO Board to delegate FOGO finances to Carpenter. Regarding the invoice issue below, she was no longer the Treasurer. And if she was originally "unable" to do FOGO PayPal management activities, perhaps it was because Carpenter wanted it to be that way after he "helped" with the initial FOGO PayPal and website set-up. And despite any perceived "permission" Carpenter believed he may have had from Sullivan, it's clear he did not have permission from his employer Washington State Parks: Griffith explicitly stated "Troy should not have a backdoor to FOGO’s website or accounts. We'll fix that."
They didn't. Carpenter's statements show he apparently felt he was entitled to supervise all Friends activities and property, which he believed ultimately should belong to the Observatory and therefore be under his control.
Not only are Carpenter's statements a conflict of interest under Washington State law, they reveal Carpenter to be a serial liar. PayPal automatically generated FOGO membership dues receipts, donation receipts, and T-shirt sales, and PayPal records revealed Carpenter generated only one invoice, as described below.
FOGO and Carpenter (representing Washington State Parks) agreed to a group purchase of GOSP themed T-shirts in order to save on cost. Carpenter’s State-purchased supply would be directly sold to observatory visitors, and FOGO’s purchase would be sold through its website and FOGO outreach activities. Both supplies were supposedly stored separately at the Goldendale Observatory.
FOGO verbally agreed to a request from Carpenter that if he ran out of T-shirts he would be able to "get a few more at cost" from FOGO to hold him over until he could purchase more. Apparently Carpenter thought this entitled him to take whatever amount he wanted without asking. When Carpenter informed the FOGO President “we’re getting low on T-shirts,” FOGO's President verbally agreed to let Carpenter have half of the remaining FOGO supply at cost. In exchange, Carpenter verbally agreed to direct visitors to the FOGO website for the purchase of the remainder of FOGO’s supply. Instead, Carpenter helped himself to almost the entire inventory of FOGO’s T-shirts, without asking or informing anyone.* When this was disclosed to the FOGO President and objected to, Carpenter dismissively stated “too bad – it’s a done deal – maybe next time.”
* While Carpenter didn't mention it at the time, he later attempted to blame the taking of FOGO's T-shirts on a female Observatory employee who may have left after some kind of untoward event or interaction(s). After she left, Carpenter would go out of his way to disparage her as a "clueless giggling air-head" - who he had hired - even though she had a Bachelor of Science degree in Astrophysics with a minor in Mathematics from the Washington State University Department of Physics and Astronomy (Carpenter has no formal degree in astronomy - or any other discipline). This begs the question - if true - of why she would have taken the T-shirts belonging to FOGO and sold them as the Observatory's if they were kept separate and Carpenter had directed her otherwise?
The next day, without FOGO knowledge, authorization, or approval - Carpenter generated a fraudulent PayPal invoice from FOGO to State Parks in order to pay for FOGO property he took without approval via his access to FOGO’s T-shirts, using his un-authorized access to FOGO's PayPal account. This left only a small amount of mostly unpopular sizes for FOGO to attempt to dispense, resulting in a net loss of FOGO’s funds.
Fraudulent FOGO Invoice created by Washington State Parks employee Troy Carpenter.
The FOGO "cooperative agreement" contract with Washington State Parks explicitly stated FOGO was entitled to purchase at its expense, sell, and keep the net proceeds of the materials it purchased and owned. Carpenter’s interpretation apparently was ‘what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine.’ His the-ends-justify-the-means statements following his taking FOGO's T-shirts included “you [FOGO] only exist to serve the Observatory, so what’s the big deal.”
Apparently the last thing Carpenter wanted was for FOGO to "waste money" on "unpopular" "hippy-dippy" "pandering to amateur astronomers" education activities and materials aimed at night sky conservation at the Goldendale Observatory.
The FOGO "cooperative agreement" contract with Washington State Parks explicitly stated FOGO was entitled to purchase at its expense, sell, and keep the net proceeds of the materials it purchased and owned. Carpenter’s interpretation apparently was ‘what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine.’ His the-ends-justify-the-means statements following his taking FOGO's T-shirts included “you [FOGO] only exist to serve the Observatory, so what’s the big deal.”
Apparently the last thing Carpenter wanted was for FOGO to "waste money" on "unpopular" "hippy-dippy" "pandering to amateur astronomers" education activities and materials aimed at night sky conservation at the Goldendale Observatory.
While Carpenter stated verbally and in writing he had created multiple FOGO invoices before with the prior treasurer Earlene Sullivan's approval, it was revealed to be untrue through easily procured PayPal records, and the statements of the former treasurer herself that to her knowledge this had never taken place. This apparently was the first - and only - such invoice generated by the FOGO account per PayPal. What's clear is that Carpenter took advantage of Sullivan's ignorance of technical details and exploited her inexperience as a lay member of the public for his own advantage.
Immediately following this incident, FOGO's President directed the current Treasurer to secure the Friends PayPal and financial accounts from access by Carpenter, and also advised Carpenter's immediate supervisor - Ranger Andy Kallinen. Kallinen stated he was unaware of Carpenter's involvement with FOGO's accounts, and that this was indeed prohibited for a Washington State Parks employee, and reiterated the need to remove Carpenter's FOGO PayPal access. Kalinin attempted to cover-up for Carpenter's behavior, stating Carpenter was under some vaguely described high amount of stress. This may possibly have been related to the recent departure of the aforementioned "clueless giggling air-head." In consultation with Kallinen, the FOGO President decided not to pursue a formal complaint, but appropriately informed Carpenter in writing that future business transactions and payments would need written approval in advance by the FOGO Board of Directors.
Due to removing Carpenter from what he believed was his God-given right to control FOGO property and its finances, and having informed his immediate supervisor of his unethical behavior, Carpenter immediately resorted to retaliatory behaviors typically found in sociopaths and narcissists. Carpenter became enraged. He played the victim. He told the FOGO President "your new name is Bob-Quixote," and accused him in writing of being an "enemy of the observatory" and "mentally ill," and employed the tactics of name calling, a smear campaign, and enlisted his cult of followers as flying monkeys to support his gaslighting and entitlement version of reality.
Even though they advised the President that an accountant they consulted had emphasized the importance that every FOGO transaction should be kept separate, properly documented in writing and approved, and had "all the 't's crossed and the 'i's dotted," Carpenter's groupies on the FOGO Board drank the-ends-justify-the-means Kool-Aid, and advised to not "rock the boat" and "just look the other way." Unfamiliar with the details of what had occurred, they hypocritically parroted Carpenter's projections that the discord between the FOGO President and the Observatory created by Carpenter's unethical behavior and statements was because "Bob wants to be in charge of the observatory - it's that simple." Pot meet kettle.
After several months of ongoing smear activity against the FOGO President in retaliation for having appropriately performed his fiduciary responsibilities, and with the publicly stated "fused quartz" telescope mirror deceptions made at the Rose City Astronomers meeting, Washington State Parks management was made formally aware of these and other significant issues, including Carpenter's prohibited access to the FOGO website. After a so-called "formal investigation" which amounted to little more than a white-wash and coverup of Carpenter's behaviors, Carpenter stated he received a reprimand for his documented unprofessional name-calling - followed by a pay raise and new title of Observatory Director.
Carpenter's popularity as a public speaker and generator tourism and Discover Pass sales for a financially stressed State Park system seems to have led to a textbook example of the normalization of deviance. Apparently Carpenter could stand in the middle of downtown Goldendale and shoot somebody, and he wouldn't suffer any significant consequence from Washington State Parks. With regard to falsifying an invoice, it apparently made little difference to Washington State Parks that Carpenter wasn't a Friends officer, was prohibited from any such involvement, or that Carpenter lied about having been allowed to generate invoices for a entity he was not permitted to be a part of.
Public disclosure records reveal that when an investigator asked if an inquiry regarding the falsified invoice should be pursued, it appears the only response was to suggest Griffith recommend to the Friends that "if THEY believe there is forgery, they should take it to the prosecutor. Not us." Emphasis original. Of course, State Parks Eastern Region Manager Griffith already knew the previous treasurer had contradicted Carpenter's assertions about having permission to create invoices, so no such direction was ever made to the Friends by Griffith. Therefore the issue of the fraudulent invoice apparently was never investigated. Even more incredibly, the complainant was never contacted or interviewed for the investigation or given an opportunity to provide additional pertinent information, respond to the misinformation and diversionary responses made, nor was FOGO informed of any findings of fact or potential conclusions of law.
And despite the obvious deceptions regarding the primary telescope mirror procurement (resulting in the eventual loss of over $10,000 taxpayer dollars), Carpenter was reaffirmed as a "subject matter expert" by Wahington State Parks and left to pursue the remainder of the dubious telescope modifications detailed above. After all, it's just taxpayer money, not their personal funds.
In April 2017, FOGO discovered they were "locked out" from their website. Carpenter's response to the "investigation findings" regarding his unethical and unprofessional behaviors and the untoward telescope upgrade issues was to retaliate by removing the Friends access to "their" website by supposedly allowing it to transfer from himself to Peck and the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce. Peck - again demonstrating his ends-justify-the-means lack of ethics - lied by falsely stating the website domain had "expired" and therefore become publicly available, and he had no choice but to "rescue" it for himself and the Chamber of Commerce. He later admitted the website "always belonged to Troy," but opined that it was FOGO that was responsible for creating discord between the two organizations (blaming the victim), which warranted Carpenter's and the Chamber's removal of FOGO's access to goldendaleobservatory.com.
In reality, the domain name was owned by Carpenter, and therefore he received all notifications regarding the domain name status at his email address, not FOGO. Furthermore, the domain name never became available to anyone other than Carpenter during a "grace period." Carpenter never informed the Friends of his ownership, and Peck and Carpenter admitted that their plan all along (with Pratt's knowledge and approval) was to remove the Friends access to the website FOGO was led to believe they owned - and paid for. This ultimately led to the termination of the Cooperative Agreement between the Friends and Washington State Parks. Carpenter and his flying monkey allies have since gone on to assert the Friends current website is a "scam" intended to look like his, when "his" website was actually the Friends website to begin with.
Immediately following this incident, FOGO's President directed the current Treasurer to secure the Friends PayPal and financial accounts from access by Carpenter, and also advised Carpenter's immediate supervisor - Ranger Andy Kallinen. Kallinen stated he was unaware of Carpenter's involvement with FOGO's accounts, and that this was indeed prohibited for a Washington State Parks employee, and reiterated the need to remove Carpenter's FOGO PayPal access. Kalinin attempted to cover-up for Carpenter's behavior, stating Carpenter was under some vaguely described high amount of stress. This may possibly have been related to the recent departure of the aforementioned "clueless giggling air-head." In consultation with Kallinen, the FOGO President decided not to pursue a formal complaint, but appropriately informed Carpenter in writing that future business transactions and payments would need written approval in advance by the FOGO Board of Directors.
Due to removing Carpenter from what he believed was his God-given right to control FOGO property and its finances, and having informed his immediate supervisor of his unethical behavior, Carpenter immediately resorted to retaliatory behaviors typically found in sociopaths and narcissists. Carpenter became enraged. He played the victim. He told the FOGO President "your new name is Bob-Quixote," and accused him in writing of being an "enemy of the observatory" and "mentally ill," and employed the tactics of name calling, a smear campaign, and enlisted his cult of followers as flying monkeys to support his gaslighting and entitlement version of reality.
Even though they advised the President that an accountant they consulted had emphasized the importance that every FOGO transaction should be kept separate, properly documented in writing and approved, and had "all the 't's crossed and the 'i's dotted," Carpenter's groupies on the FOGO Board drank the-ends-justify-the-means Kool-Aid, and advised to not "rock the boat" and "just look the other way." Unfamiliar with the details of what had occurred, they hypocritically parroted Carpenter's projections that the discord between the FOGO President and the Observatory created by Carpenter's unethical behavior and statements was because "Bob wants to be in charge of the observatory - it's that simple." Pot meet kettle.
After several months of ongoing smear activity against the FOGO President in retaliation for having appropriately performed his fiduciary responsibilities, and with the publicly stated "fused quartz" telescope mirror deceptions made at the Rose City Astronomers meeting, Washington State Parks management was made formally aware of these and other significant issues, including Carpenter's prohibited access to the FOGO website. After a so-called "formal investigation" which amounted to little more than a white-wash and coverup of Carpenter's behaviors, Carpenter stated he received a reprimand for his documented unprofessional name-calling - followed by a pay raise and new title of Observatory Director.
Carpenter's popularity as a public speaker and generator tourism and Discover Pass sales for a financially stressed State Park system seems to have led to a textbook example of the normalization of deviance. Apparently Carpenter could stand in the middle of downtown Goldendale and shoot somebody, and he wouldn't suffer any significant consequence from Washington State Parks. With regard to falsifying an invoice, it apparently made little difference to Washington State Parks that Carpenter wasn't a Friends officer, was prohibited from any such involvement, or that Carpenter lied about having been allowed to generate invoices for a entity he was not permitted to be a part of.
Public disclosure records reveal that when an investigator asked if an inquiry regarding the falsified invoice should be pursued, it appears the only response was to suggest Griffith recommend to the Friends that "if THEY believe there is forgery, they should take it to the prosecutor. Not us." Emphasis original. Of course, State Parks Eastern Region Manager Griffith already knew the previous treasurer had contradicted Carpenter's assertions about having permission to create invoices, so no such direction was ever made to the Friends by Griffith. Therefore the issue of the fraudulent invoice apparently was never investigated. Even more incredibly, the complainant was never contacted or interviewed for the investigation or given an opportunity to provide additional pertinent information, respond to the misinformation and diversionary responses made, nor was FOGO informed of any findings of fact or potential conclusions of law.
And despite the obvious deceptions regarding the primary telescope mirror procurement (resulting in the eventual loss of over $10,000 taxpayer dollars), Carpenter was reaffirmed as a "subject matter expert" by Wahington State Parks and left to pursue the remainder of the dubious telescope modifications detailed above. After all, it's just taxpayer money, not their personal funds.
In April 2017, FOGO discovered they were "locked out" from their website. Carpenter's response to the "investigation findings" regarding his unethical and unprofessional behaviors and the untoward telescope upgrade issues was to retaliate by removing the Friends access to "their" website by supposedly allowing it to transfer from himself to Peck and the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce. Peck - again demonstrating his ends-justify-the-means lack of ethics - lied by falsely stating the website domain had "expired" and therefore become publicly available, and he had no choice but to "rescue" it for himself and the Chamber of Commerce. He later admitted the website "always belonged to Troy," but opined that it was FOGO that was responsible for creating discord between the two organizations (blaming the victim), which warranted Carpenter's and the Chamber's removal of FOGO's access to goldendaleobservatory.com.
In reality, the domain name was owned by Carpenter, and therefore he received all notifications regarding the domain name status at his email address, not FOGO. Furthermore, the domain name never became available to anyone other than Carpenter during a "grace period." Carpenter never informed the Friends of his ownership, and Peck and Carpenter admitted that their plan all along (with Pratt's knowledge and approval) was to remove the Friends access to the website FOGO was led to believe they owned - and paid for. This ultimately led to the termination of the Cooperative Agreement between the Friends and Washington State Parks. Carpenter and his flying monkey allies have since gone on to assert the Friends current website is a "scam" intended to look like his, when "his" website was actually the Friends website to begin with.
After blocking FOGO from its original website, the Carpenter / Peck / Pratt / Lewis "partnership" immediately eliminated any mention of "controversial" and allegedly "unpopular" light pollution or dark sky education and conservation advocacy. Carpenter publicly stated “we certainly don’t want to be directly associated with light pollution mitigation,” and characterized the Friends website's dark sky conservation education as "vandalism" (again revealing his secret underlying ownership) and “amateur astronomer pandering.” So while State Parks Director Hock told the IDA that Washington State Parks supported and would be "providing educational experiences that help raise awareness of the impacts of light pollution on this valuable resource - the dark sky experience," Carpenter and the Chamber clearly did not and would not provide this education, either onsite at the Observatory, or online.
Carpenter's self-admitted unethical behavior and public statements regarding light pollution and amateur astronomers are disturbing for a public employee. Moreover, it's hypocritical given that the Observatory wouldn’t exist without the massive 24-inch telescope built by amateur astronomers, who along with the community college that owned and paid for it, sought a location outside of the Vancouver-Portland metropolitan area for the telescope specifically in order to get away from light pollution. Apparently expressing the belief that the facility still somehow should be beholden only to the City of Goldendale and the Chamber of Commerce instead of the Washington State citizens and taxpayers, Carpenter then stated "the town is the reason the facility exists."
Nonsense. You don't get a United States taxpayer funded 80% Federal grant to build an observatory without having a telescope to put in it. The additional 20% in matching funds were mostly loans which came from a commercial bank, and were paid off by Washington State taxpayers when they rescued the facility from bankruptcy. The City of Goldendale contribution essentially amounted to the 5 acres of public land the Observatory sits on. Therefore the US and Washington State taxpayers are the overwhelming reason the facility exists, which couldn't have happened without the amateur astronomers who built the telescope, and the community college that funded it. Consequently, the Goldendale Observatory was originally intended to equally serve the public, educators and students, and amateur astronomers from across the state and beyond.
While Carpenter’s Chamber of Commerce "sponsored" website no longer "panders" to amateur astronomers, it does list and link to the local hotels you should stay at:
Carpenter's self-admitted unethical behavior and public statements regarding light pollution and amateur astronomers are disturbing for a public employee. Moreover, it's hypocritical given that the Observatory wouldn’t exist without the massive 24-inch telescope built by amateur astronomers, who along with the community college that owned and paid for it, sought a location outside of the Vancouver-Portland metropolitan area for the telescope specifically in order to get away from light pollution. Apparently expressing the belief that the facility still somehow should be beholden only to the City of Goldendale and the Chamber of Commerce instead of the Washington State citizens and taxpayers, Carpenter then stated "the town is the reason the facility exists."
Nonsense. You don't get a United States taxpayer funded 80% Federal grant to build an observatory without having a telescope to put in it. The additional 20% in matching funds were mostly loans which came from a commercial bank, and were paid off by Washington State taxpayers when they rescued the facility from bankruptcy. The City of Goldendale contribution essentially amounted to the 5 acres of public land the Observatory sits on. Therefore the US and Washington State taxpayers are the overwhelming reason the facility exists, which couldn't have happened without the amateur astronomers who built the telescope, and the community college that funded it. Consequently, the Goldendale Observatory was originally intended to equally serve the public, educators and students, and amateur astronomers from across the state and beyond.
While Carpenter’s Chamber of Commerce "sponsored" website no longer "panders" to amateur astronomers, it does list and link to the local hotels you should stay at:
Both Carpenter's Goldendale Chamber of Commerce sponsored webpage about the Observatory, and the Chamber's website itself - lack any mention of the need to protect and conserve a dark night sky for the Observatory or its telescopes - perhaps because they only consider it to be an "amusement park" for entertainment by a "rock star" - rather than a venue to experience the majesty of a dark night sky and the wonders of the universe lying therein.
There is no better example of this conflict of interest than the Washington State Parks - Goldendale Chamber of Commerce "entertainment / amusement park partnership" encouraging people to travel to and stay in Goldendale to witness a garden-variety partial solar eclipse, versus the Friends (and every other legitimate astronomy education organization) encouraging people to experience the incredible rare beauty of "nature's grandest spectacle," the August 21, 2017 Great American Total Solar Eclipse - for most people a once-in-a-lifetime event, and viewable only 50 miles (80 km) south of Goldendale:
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"It’s estimated that 215 million Americans saw the 2017 event, though most only saw a partial solar eclipse—a not-very-interesting sideshow, relatively speaking. Only around 12 million experienced a total solar eclipse from the path of totality. Viewers must be within the path of totality to see experience the remarkable effects unique to totality; dropping temperatures, gathering darkness, exquisite “diamond rings” around the moon, and a chance to see the tenuous white solar corona—the sun’s outer atmosphere—spilling into space. It's a hypnotically beautiful and addictive experience." Forbes magazine |
For almost everyone with a beating and feeling heart, witnessing a total solar eclipse is a life changing event.
Fred Espenak, an eclipse chaser and prediction guru now retired from NASA, calls seeing a total solar eclipse the most beautiful natural phenomenon anyone can experience.
"I have seen people witnessing their first eclipses. And after totality, they are down on their knees, weeping," says Espenak. "It's just an incredibly moving event."
No one who knows anything about solar eclipses would ever try to persuade people not to witness a total eclipse if it was at all possible.
But for Carpenter (who thrives on attention and almost certainly has never seen a total solar eclipse), having people experience the 2017 total solar eclipse - so conveniently nearby - apparently was considered some sort of threat. Well-versed in sophistry and raising hyperbole to an art form - he called the Friends encouragement for people to witness the incredible "once in a lifetime" spectacle of the 2017 total solar eclipse if possible (instead of settling for a "not very interesting side show") "monstrous and terribly destructive to the Observatory."
So get it straight folks - advocating for seeing a once-in-a-lifetime nearby spectacular total solar eclipse instead of a relatively uninteresting “side-show” partial solar eclipse, bloviated about by Carpenter, was “terribly destructive” to the Goldendale Observatory State Park.
It also would not serve the interests of Washington State Parks "partners," who depend on the Goldendale Observatory and Carpenter for filling up restaurant parking spaces and hotel rooms. Washington State Parks priorities: Quality Inn and McDonalds - yes. Breathtaking and wonderous rare display of nature - no.
Ignoring, keeping quiet and lying about the impact of increasing light pollution from Goldendale and Klickitat County, and its destructive impact on the nighttime sky at the Goldendale Observatory State Park, is perfectly acceptable - even if it meant first losing, and then walking away from regaining, the prestigious International Dark Sky Park designation, and betraying the reasons the Observatory was located in Goldendale to begin with - having dark night sky.
Reasonable people would consider enabling this increasing light pollution "terribly destructive" to a public observatory meant to reveal the treasures of a dark night sky.
Washington State Parks Observatory management and staff has made worsening light pollution easier for their local political and business community "partners" to ignore; and doesn't risk making the Washington State Parks "unpopular" with these short-sighted parochial interests.
Reasonable people might consider this a "monstrous" conflict of interest by a public organization supposedly representing the interests of all Washingtonians.
Carpenter and Peck cited the Friends recommendation to see the total eclipse (less than a one hour drive away) as another reason (besides pro-night-sky-conservation education "vandalism") to take over the Friends website and take down the eclipse web-page. The Chamber of Commerce was employed as a cover to remove the Friends access to the website Carpenter covertly owned, yet deliberately misled the Friends to believe they owned and had paid for.
For the Carpenter-Washington State Parks-Chamber of Commerce entertainment partnership the ends once again justified the means. They rationalized and publicly stated staying at a local motel and eating at Papa John's Pizza or McDonald's - instead of experiencing a "the most awe-inspiring spectacle in all of nature" - was and remains the real bottom line. Peck explicitly stated “my job is to try and fill up hotel rooms and restaurant spaces using the observatory as a marketing tool,” and "economic and commercial gain is our priority." Peck tellingly added "It's State Parks priority." Carpenter immediately interjected "it is our priority – overwhelmingly so. Absolutely." (Emphasis original).
These economic exploitation rationales and the resultant near-sighted focus on "amusement park" and entertainment experiences verses "the dark sky experience" - or viewing a once in a lifetime total solar eclipse - led to the Washington State Parks - Goldendale Chamber of Commerce "partnership" to eliminate meaningful consideration of night sky conservation. They appear to embody both a conflict of interest and to be out of sync with the stated mission and core values of Washington State Parks, which importantly include providing stewardship for Washington’s cherished natural heritage for future generations, for an observatory telescope that was deliberately sited in a dark location and meant to literally focus on the natural environment encompassing the entire visible universe.
- In order to obtain the historic 24 inch telescope for the Goldendale Observatory, promises were made in 1971 to protect it from the damaging effects of light pollution. Despite the presence of Goldendale and Klickitat County lighting codes belatedly put in place in 1979, the night sky of Goldendale Observatory has deliberately not been protected from the damaging effects of light pollution. These promises therefore were little more than a bait-and-switch.
Who better to stress the importance of preserving and protecting the Observatory's - and moreover an International Dark Sky Park's - starry night sky than those directly overseeing it? Yet not only wouldn’t Pratt or Carpenter speak up for protecting the Observatory’s night sky – a formal written commitment made by Washington State Parks to the IDA in 2010 – they self-admittedly were in bed with Peck who opposes its meaningful protection via application of longstanding local lighting codes.
In Goldendale City Council Lighting Task Force meetings, if he attended, Pratt either remained silent (often sitting alongside an equally mute Peck) or disavowed support for proposed lighting code improvements to better protect the night sky of the Goldendale Observatory – all the while stating he was being “neutral.” Notwithstanding Pratt's "neutrality" position, to be an IDA Dark Sky Park requires support for protecting the night sky, not "neutrality." Pratt also stated that he and Carpenter were prohibited from expressing views promoting protection of the Observatory's night sky because they were politically sensitive “policy” issues. This conflicts with Washington State Law, which states “employees of the state…shall have the right to express their opinions on all political subjects...” RCW 41.06.250. Pratt similarly stated he was unable to discuss lighting code issues with elected officials, in contravention of RCW 42.52.8022, which specifically allows for “informational and educational meetings regarding legislative issues.”
Local business interests on the Lighting Task Force noted that “the Observatory has made it clear they’re happy with the way things are, and aren’t concerned with the existing amount of light [pollution].” As a result, the City of Goldendale’s Lighting Task Force removed many essential best-practice provisions – adapted from other successful Dark Sky Communities such as Dripping Springs Texas (population 3100) – which were included in the original revised lighting code draft. These best practices are minimum requirements for Dark Sky Community lighting ordinances.
In Goldendale City Council Lighting Task Force meetings, if he attended, Pratt either remained silent (often sitting alongside an equally mute Peck) or disavowed support for proposed lighting code improvements to better protect the night sky of the Goldendale Observatory – all the while stating he was being “neutral.” Notwithstanding Pratt's "neutrality" position, to be an IDA Dark Sky Park requires support for protecting the night sky, not "neutrality." Pratt also stated that he and Carpenter were prohibited from expressing views promoting protection of the Observatory's night sky because they were politically sensitive “policy” issues. This conflicts with Washington State Law, which states “employees of the state…shall have the right to express their opinions on all political subjects...” RCW 41.06.250. Pratt similarly stated he was unable to discuss lighting code issues with elected officials, in contravention of RCW 42.52.8022, which specifically allows for “informational and educational meetings regarding legislative issues.”
Local business interests on the Lighting Task Force noted that “the Observatory has made it clear they’re happy with the way things are, and aren’t concerned with the existing amount of light [pollution].” As a result, the City of Goldendale’s Lighting Task Force removed many essential best-practice provisions – adapted from other successful Dark Sky Communities such as Dripping Springs Texas (population 3100) – which were included in the original revised lighting code draft. These best practices are minimum requirements for Dark Sky Community lighting ordinances.
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The first Dark Sky Community. Flagstaff Arizona is a city of over 70,000 people, but because of their well-regulated lighting, skies are dark enough to see the Milky Way from downtown. Regulation of outdoor lighting practices are essential to protect the night sky of the famous nearby historic Lowell Observatory, and also make the city a more pleasing place to live in and visit. |
“Downtown Flagstaff” Mehmedinovic & Heffernan SKYGLOW
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While Observatory Director Carpenter had given away the IDA-supplied Unihedron Sky Quality Meter and therefore made no sky quality measurements for three years, Karlson's May 31, 2017 Revised 2016 Annual Dark Sky Park Report to the IDA finally contained the required night-sky quality measurements. However, these readings were so poor that when averaged they indicated the Observatory no longer met any Dark Sky Park classification. The report states “Observatory staff” (Carpenter) obtained the measurements, which also required taxpayers to purchase a new $135 Sky Quality Meter (SQM) to replace the identical one Carpenter had previously disposed of.
The IDA found that these readings were contradicted by recent satellite data, and subsequent independent measurements showed the Goldendale Observatory still meets the original Silver Tier Dark Sky Park criteria for overhead night-sky quality. The IDA euphemistically attributed the anomalous sky quality data submitted by Carpenter to possibly "pilot error," which would be very surprising for such a simple to use device - point overhead, push button, read number – done.
With apologies to the GEICO Caveman...
It should be clear by now to most impartial people that Carpenter appears truth and honesty-challenged:
While the online Light Pollution Atlas reference indicated the Goldendale Observatory met the Silver Tier Dark Sky Park quality requirements (21.00 - 21.74 mag./arc sec^2) – the sky quality meter readings as shown above submitted to the IDA by Carpenter (less than 20.00 mag./arc sec^2) indicated a huge deterioration of the darkness of the overhead night sky that would preclude the Goldendale Observatory State Park from consideration as an International Dark Sky Park:
As shown below, subsequent independent Unihedron Sky Quality Meter measurements using the SQM that Carpenter had given away show the Goldendale Observatory still met the Silver Tier International Dark Sky Park criteria.
June 2017 sky quality meter measurements taken at a new moon and after astronomical twilight had ended.
Carpenter's self-declared lack of interest in meeting Dark Sky Park certification requirements and publicly voiced antipathy for allegedly "unpopular" and "pandering" dark sky education, combined with Area Manger Pratt's opposition to dark sky conservation advocacy - and who allegedly wished to make the Dark Sky Park designation "go away" - makes deliberate malfeasance a more realistic explanation for the poor sky quality meter readings (likely taken with interfering moonlight, during twilight, near parking lot lights or other artificial light sources).
It appears that in word and deed Carpenter was independently engaged to sabotage Karlson's revised annual report to the IDA. In the case of these anomalous sky quality measurements, Carpenter the "computer whiz" appears either incompetent to use the simplest of sky quality measuring devices, or purposely trying to make the Dark Sky Park "go away."
Moreover, despite their importance, the fact that these completely erroneous sky quality readings were submitted to the IDA without apparent review or concern again reveals the lack of any responsible managerial or astronomy related expertise overseeing the Observatory.
It appears that in word and deed Carpenter was independently engaged to sabotage Karlson's revised annual report to the IDA. In the case of these anomalous sky quality measurements, Carpenter the "computer whiz" appears either incompetent to use the simplest of sky quality measuring devices, or purposely trying to make the Dark Sky Park "go away."
Moreover, despite their importance, the fact that these completely erroneous sky quality readings were submitted to the IDA without apparent review or concern again reveals the lack of any responsible managerial or astronomy related expertise overseeing the Observatory.
Washington State Parks
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In addition to submitting grossly inaccurate data, and misleading or false reports to the International Dark-Sky Association*, Carpenter published a highly manipulated picture of the night sky at the Goldendale Observatory. Because the Goldendale Observatory is no longer about scientific accuracy - it's all about marketing.
Note the caption "with tungsten white balance,” which refers to a process to correct for “warm” lighting and renders a bluer “daylight” color to photos taken indoors with incandescent (tungsten filament) lighting. Observe how blue the night sky appears in Carpenter’s online published photograph (upper picture). This seems intended to convey to the public the Observatory’s southern sky quality by changing the appearance of the amount and character of light pollution from Goldendale and surrounding Klickitat County. It appears especially intended to minimize the glow from the nearby wind turbines, perhaps in deference to Peck who is now the "proud sponsor" of Carpenter's personal Goldendale Observatory website. Peck was the Klickitat County economic development Director "protecting... our region from regulatory threats" and brought these turbines to fruition. He then secured a lucrative position in the wind power industry before eventually returning to Klickitat County and becoming the Executive Director of the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce. |
As seen above and using a similar technique for correcting color balance, a more realistic portrayal of the night sky - and light pollution - can be reestablished for the photo and the appearance of the night sky (bottom). Note the sky is a more neutral grey-black, not bright blue (see also Carpenter's Milky Way photo below), and the aircraft warning lights on the wind turbines are corrected to being their real orange-red color instead of pink.
* See the SCRIBD review of Carpenter's late 2016 annual report to the IDA below. As an example of his deliberate deceptions, Carpenter claimed 31,000 annual visitors to the Goldendale Observatory State Park in 2016, with “~23,000” were for the "dark sky" presentations. The reality was there were no dark sky presentations or programs, and this is simply his made up number for the number of people who attend the evening shows.
At that time the Goldendale Observatory had about 17 parking spaces, and a lecture hall that seated around 40 people. It’s open 4 days a week during six spring and summer months, and 3 days a week during 6 fall and winter months. This is a yearly average of 3.5 days per week, or 180 days a year (subtracting 2 days for various holidays). Carpenter's claim of 31,000 visitors in 2016, and 23,000 (75%) attending the evening program results in a daily average of 128 people per each and every evening program (3.2 times the number of available seats), and each and every possible parking space having a vehicle with 7.5 occupants, rain or shine.
This is highly unlikely, and another example of the lengths Carpenter will go to in order to inflate numbers to exaggerate his popularity among Washington State Parks management and the local business community.
At that time the Goldendale Observatory had about 17 parking spaces, and a lecture hall that seated around 40 people. It’s open 4 days a week during six spring and summer months, and 3 days a week during 6 fall and winter months. This is a yearly average of 3.5 days per week, or 180 days a year (subtracting 2 days for various holidays). Carpenter's claim of 31,000 visitors in 2016, and 23,000 (75%) attending the evening program results in a daily average of 128 people per each and every evening program (3.2 times the number of available seats), and each and every possible parking space having a vehicle with 7.5 occupants, rain or shine.
This is highly unlikely, and another example of the lengths Carpenter will go to in order to inflate numbers to exaggerate his popularity among Washington State Parks management and the local business community.
Carpenter, unlike his predecessor, apparently sees himself primarily as a self-appointed hustler-entertainer for the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce more than a truthful conduit for astronomy facts where light pollution is concerned. He habitually attempts to mislead the public about the long-deteriorating quality of the southern night sky at the Goldendale Observatory which every other knowledgeable long-time observer of its night sky has noted.
A portion of this light pollution is seen on the left in Carpenter’s latest Chamber-sponsored website photo below. Almost every photo by Carpenter from the Observatory seems to show the Milky Way east or west of the prime meridian due south, and/or with the south horizon blocked. For example, the picture below was taken pointed to the southwest and from below the horizon, and avoids showing how significant this light pollution in the south has become. This light pollution comes from the recently installed bright 3000K LED streetlights and unshielded non-compliant lighting which has been allowed to proliferate in violation of the lighting codes for over 40 years:
Taken at about midnight on August 24, 2020, the center of the Milky Way has set in the southwest, and light pollution from Goldendale - off center to the left (south) and mostly out of the picture is seen illuminating the observatory itself. Many of the most impressive jewels of the night sky are adversely affected. Note the whiter color of the skyglow - a result of the brighter 3000K LED streetlights and unshielded white light LED business and residential outdoor lighting.
Demonstrating over a 40 year failure to consider, let alone adopt or implement a coherent night sky conservation management strategy of any kind for the Washington State taxpayer's substantial investment in a public observatory, Washington State Parks officials have also put forth conflicting statements on the importance of preserving the Goldendale Observatory’s essential dark night sky quality asset:
In an April 2017 newspaper interview and his May 31, 2017 Revised Annual Report to the IDA, Interpretive Program Manager Ryan Karlson commendably stated “Preserving the dark sky at the Goldendale Observatory is part of our mission… We will promote the value of preserving our dark skies and support educational outreach to reduce the impacts of light pollution and other threats to this vulnerable natural resource.” (Emphasis added).
Note that Observatory Director Troy Carpenter is missing from the list of recipients.
However, months later on August 2, 2017 (and immediately preceding IDA deliberations on the status of the Observatory's Dark Sky Park designation), Partnership & Planning Manager Steve Brand directly contradicted Karlson when he stated “State Parks supports the dark sky concept, but it isn’t our mission.” (Emphasis added). Note the use of the word "concept." Brand - who was a recipient - then required the Friends to remove dark sky education outreach activity from their annual Operating Plan, stating “it isn’t part of operating the park.”
Making such a statement for an observatory, let alone an International Dark Sky Park with a pending recertification review and long promoted as "famous for its dark skies" and “a perfect star-gazing spot,” is truly dumbfounding. The IDA was doubtlessly not impressed, especially as Carpenter continued his longstanding failure to provide a single dark sky education program during the suspension period. This failure continued despite the commitment of Washington State Parks to provide such education as a condition of Dark Sky Park certification in 2010 and possessing an IDA slide set on the importance of night sky conservation since then, and the outline for a proposed dark sky program having been included in Karlson's Revised Annual Report. And most obviously, you don't have to operate an International Dark Sky Park to support protecting the night sky (especially at an astronomical observatory), you just have to be a conscientious human being.
Regardless of the obviously erroneous sky quality measurements supplied by Carpenter, the IDA revoked the Dark Sky Park certification of Goldendale Observatory on September 30, 2017 due to “failing to meet the requirements for Dark Sky Park status," not a loss of dark sky quality, which has been suggested by some State Parks personnel. Based on independent data provided by the Friends of the Goldendale Observatory (also see SCRIBD article below), the facility still met the original Silver tier level of overhead sky quality (and remains relatively pristine to the west, north, and east).
Had Carpenter and Pratt been unsuccessful in their efforts to make the Dark Sky Park "go away" during the interim suspension period, it would have been fully reinstated under the IDA criteria in effect in 2010, and "grandfathered" when subsequent criteria became applicable.
Properly installed shielded lighting and enforcement of the existing outdoor lighting regulations - as was originally intended - could remove 50% of light pollution. Improving the lighting codes to regulate the color temperature (“spectrum”) and lumens per area (“amount”) could reduce this even further.
Did the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission come to believe that advocating for conservation and protection of the Observatory's night sky isn’t worth the trouble it could cause with a small group of political and business interests, one of whom is a State Representative? Would they feel that way if a State Park mountain stream or lake and its pristine yet vulnerable waters were being irrevocably degraded and its fish harmed by water pollution from a small nearby town, despite the presence of water pollution regulations specifically intended to protect it? What about providing stewardship for Washington’s cherished natural heritage for future generations?
Light pollution coming from Goldendale less than 1 mile away and Klickitat County beyond reflects off the main dome of the Goldendale Observatory's 24-inch telescope, and obscures the center of the Milky Way.
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Goldendale Observatory State Park
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One would expect a State agency with a core value of "involving the public in our policy development and decision making," and spending millions of taxpayer dollars on its unique public Observatory, to solicit guidance from a broad community of experts in astronomy as well as stakeholders from across the State when considering appropriate stewardship activities for a State Park “famous for its dark skies.” Instead, acting unilaterally and without any public input, Washington State Parks personnel have shown they will only do what they are familiar with, is convenient for their bureaucracy, and acceptable to the special interests who might affect their budget.
Washington State Parks original promises to meet Dark Sky Park requirements and responsibly educate and advocate for conservation of the public's night sky "vulnerable natural resource" outside the boundaries of a State Park, and protect the taxpayers observatory and telescope investment, apparently makes some Washington State Parks personnel squeamish. Instead, they seem to believe that installing dark-sky friendly lighting at the Observatory was their only obligation to be considered an International Dark Sky Park -- as if protecting the five acres of night sky immediately above the Observatory could actually accomplish meaningful "stewardship" for the night sky.
Demonstrating a complete breakdown of public accountability, instead of providing stewardship advocacy for future generations of Washington's "cherished" and "vulnerable" dark sky natural resource heritage, the Goldendale Observatory State Park management and staff instead are preoccupied with promoting themselves and the economic and commercial gain of a small group of local businesses interests, as Carpenter himself emphasized: "it is our priority – overwhelmingly so. Absolutely."
Washington State Parks original promises to meet Dark Sky Park requirements and responsibly educate and advocate for conservation of the public's night sky "vulnerable natural resource" outside the boundaries of a State Park, and protect the taxpayers observatory and telescope investment, apparently makes some Washington State Parks personnel squeamish. Instead, they seem to believe that installing dark-sky friendly lighting at the Observatory was their only obligation to be considered an International Dark Sky Park -- as if protecting the five acres of night sky immediately above the Observatory could actually accomplish meaningful "stewardship" for the night sky.
Demonstrating a complete breakdown of public accountability, instead of providing stewardship advocacy for future generations of Washington's "cherished" and "vulnerable" dark sky natural resource heritage, the Goldendale Observatory State Park management and staff instead are preoccupied with promoting themselves and the economic and commercial gain of a small group of local businesses interests, as Carpenter himself emphasized: "it is our priority – overwhelmingly so. Absolutely."
It is often said the United States has the best democracy money can buy. This occurs at local, state, and national levels, and is especially true in Klickitat County, which is often referred to by the locals as being "run like a plantation." Lets meet some of the local plutocrats Washington State Parks is beholden to:
Goldendale native and conservative Washington State Representative Gina Mosbrucker (formely McCabe) and her family own a number of Goldendale businesses including the Quality Inn Hotel, Chevron gas station, an RV park or two, a dance studio, a Papa John’s Pizza, and more. Mosbrucker is a fifth generation resident of Goldendale, a former VP and Executive Director of the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce, and is the CEO and General Manager of the Quality Inn Hotel in Goldendale. Mosbrucker's political mantra includes "government regulations have become out-of-control," and she pledges to “ease onerous and burdensome government regulations” and “fight against increased regulations… on business’" (sic).
Mosbrucker has owned and operated a dance studio in Goldendale that for over 30 years has violated the City of Goldendale lighting code intended to protect the night sky of the Goldendale Observatory. The ancient unshielded, inefficeint, and highly light-polluting mercury vapor "yard blaster" light outside her dance studio produces lumen-for-lumen the most damaging light pollution of just about any type of outdoor lighting -- emitting light almost entirely in the much more highly-scattered blue-green part of the visible spectrum.
Mosbrucker's illegal - and classless - outdoor lighting.
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Mercury (Hg) vs. Sodium (Na) visible light spectrums.
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Therefore it is no wonder that at the 2016 Gorge Night Sky Symposium, held in part at the Goldendale Observatory, Mosbrucker (McCabe) ironically made no mention whatsoever about the night sky, let alone the need to conserve and protect the night sky from light pollution for the benefit of the Goldendale Observatory. Protecting and conserving the night sky was the whole point of the event, and why the Goldendale Observatory International Dark Sky Park was selected as one of the venues for the two-day event.
But as Mosbrucker's dance studio and other businesses demonstrate, the Mosbrucker family doesn't really give a damn about conserving the night sky for the Observatory. Just prior to the Night Sky Symposium, Mosbrucker met with her sister, Angela (Mosbrucker) Hoffman – an accountant who also oversees the family businesses – voicing opposition to the much needed proposed lighting code improvements that were based on city and county lighting ordinances recognized as some of the best in the nation. Hoffman demanded that a local "Lighting Task Force" be formed. Of course the Mayor (who had succeeded Peck as the Director of Klickitat County Economic Development) acquiesced and hand-picked the Task Force members, most of whom had little to no knowledge of astronomy, outdoor lighting best practices, or International Dark Sky Park conservation requirements.
Of course Hoffman herself was appointed to the Task Force and argued with zeal and egregious disinformation* against many of the best-practice improvements that had been incorporated in the outdoor lighting code revision to better protect the night sky. She went so far as to hire an alleged lighting industry "expert" to support her disingenuous and ludicrous arguments.
Of course Hoffman herself was appointed to the Task Force and argued with zeal and egregious disinformation* against many of the best-practice improvements that had been incorporated in the outdoor lighting code revision to better protect the night sky. She went so far as to hire an alleged lighting industry "expert" to support her disingenuous and ludicrous arguments.
The patriarch of the Mosbrucker clan, then Klickitat County PUD Commissioner Ray Mosbrucker, made a cameo at a Lighting Task Force meeting to confer with his daughter. Hoffman then announced that the Goldendale Observatory and Washington State Parks were not the ones advocating for lighting code improvements. Washinton State Parks Area Manager Pratt at no time said anything in support of improving the conservation of the night sky of the Goldendale Observatory State Park. Demonstrating the degree to which Washington State Parks is beholden to the local plutocracy, he also explicitly stated Washington State Parks was not advocating for any improvements to the Goldendale lighting code. Widely recognized and accepted best-practice standards for night sky conservation , now IDA lighting ordinance requirements, were removed by a majority vote of the task force from the revised Goldendale lighting code.
Cyborg vs human vision: For humans chromatic adaptation means white always looks white by candlelight or in bright daylight.
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* Hoffman stated a 3000 K color temperature requirement ("warm white") would "make it impossible to tell the difference between spilled coffee, oil, or blood" - a blatant misrepresentation, since even incandescent light bulbs (2700 K) make such an argument utter nonsense. Despite presenting facts to the Lighting Task Force about chromatic adaptation, the 3000 K requirement for new outdoor lighting was removed, and in spite of 3000 K having been adopted for Goldendale's new LED street lights.
Of course, service station lighting is purposefully designed to be excessive and "sparkly bright" with more environmental, human health, and sky-damaging blue wavelengths. This is done in order to attract motorists like moths. Coincidentally, Hoffman and her husband (shown above) own and operate the local Chevron station. Note how the 5000 K service station canopy lights far outshine the adjacent HPS streetlights and the Mercury vapor driveway entrance streetlight: |
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Laughably, two years after the "lighting task force" – led by Hoffman – nuked effective night-sky protection in Goldendale, Mosbrucker and family decided to open a new "Stargazers" RV park next to their motel: |
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The collusion between Washington State Park's Troy Carpenter and Lem Pratt, Dana Peck and the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce, and the Mosbrucker family's neutering of effective measures to protect the night sky of the Goldendale Observatory – unopposed by Washington State Parks – was and remains obvious through words and actions.
This intervention to effectively torpedo night sky conservation served as the tipping point to expose Washington State Park's total disregard for and non-compliance with International Dark Sky Park education and advocacy requirements, and expose the disregard for protecting the Goldendale Observatory's night sky by Washington State Parks, Goldendale, Klickitat County, and the local business community.
This intervention to effectively torpedo night sky conservation served as the tipping point to expose Washington State Park's total disregard for and non-compliance with International Dark Sky Park education and advocacy requirements, and expose the disregard for protecting the Goldendale Observatory's night sky by Washington State Parks, Goldendale, Klickitat County, and the local business community.
The night sky is 100% recoverable, and light pollution is one of the easiest environmental problems to fix, which will usually pay for itself in the long run through increased energy efficiency and electricity bill savings, as well as enhancing effectiveness, safety, and visual appeal. Goldendale's 2017 revised lighting code admirably requires use of full cutoff ("fully shielded") fixtures, and the use of motion sensors and timers for non and partially shielded outdoor lighting. However it has not been publicized, promoted, or enforced, and has a prolonged seven year "grandfathering" clause. Added to this is the explosion of bright white LED outdoor lighting throughout the city and county. Given the 40 years worth of pre-existing non-compliant lighting already present, the ordinance changes are grossly inadequate to restore the night sky to what it could and should be, even if it eventually is complied with. For example, thanks to business community objections, the Lighting Task Force eliminated well established best-practice provisions that would control excessive illumination via lumen limitations based on use or area, and established standards for illuminated outdoor sign lighting in order to reduce glare, over-lighting, and skyglow.
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Worse than an unshielded streetlight. The specific exemption for internally-illuminated outdoor signs is a good example of the business community’s unwillingness to be regulated for these sources of light pollution. No serious dark sky ordinance includes such an exemption. The average citizen, if asked to comply with good outdoor lighting practices, and observing that businesses are not held to similar standards for their outdoor signs, might question night sky protection requirements due to the double-standard contained within the revised lighting code.
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While the Goldendale Chamber's business interests provide enormous lip service for supporting the Goldendale Observatory, it is little wonder that local lighting codes have rarely been applied in practice within Goldendale or Klickitat County. While a Dark Sky Park designation can enhance tourism, local business and political interests apparently can’t be bothered with pesky regulations to actually protect the dark night sky heritage nature has provided, which was a main reason the telescope was sited away from Portland/Vancouver.
The only motivator in the business community for the Goldendale Observatory is economic exploitation, not genuine appreciation.
The only motivator in the business community for the Goldendale Observatory is economic exploitation, not genuine appreciation.
Chamber Ad placed in the Goldendale Sentinel Nov 2019.
If you listen carefully, you can hear the amateur astronomers who built the Observatory's telescope and purposely tried to locate it where it would have a dark night sky well into the future, turning in their graves.
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“Light pollution from Goldendale, Wash. floods the sky on a cloudy night at the Goldendale Observatory State Park on Tuesday, Dec 9, 2014. The observatory, run by the Washington State Parks, is a dark sky destination for people from around the region, and is the only public observatory in the Northwest.”
Yakima Herald-Republic/Photo: Mason Trinca |
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The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission understandably has no familiarity with astronomical facilities, yet has failed to involve any knowledgeable and qualified expertise or broad-based stakeholder guidance for this unique astronomical asset. It therefore has not provided appropriate oversight for the development of best-practice management priorities – such as the need for the conservation of a dark night sky required for such a valuable astronomy resource of "international importance." Consequently no strategic vision or mission appears to have been established for the Observatory, which has led to the failure to properly define and develop goals and objectives that meet priorities on behalf of the state-wide public’s interests.
In this vacuum, the organizational culture of the State Park has been influenced by the opportunistic self-serving interests of the local staff and political-business community, while the broader interests of the public and taxpayers of Washington have been abandoned.
In this vacuum, the organizational culture of the State Park has been influenced by the opportunistic self-serving interests of the local staff and political-business community, while the broader interests of the public and taxpayers of Washington have been abandoned.
Your tax dollars down the drain?
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Washington taxpayers are tragically being left holding the bag with a very costly Observatory, and a telescope with increasingly degraded views of the wonders in the night sky for which it was originally intended:
In 1971 Clark College had the wisdom to seek "the professional advice of astronomers" when it came to how to protect the proposed observatory's night sky from Goldendale's lights - something Washington State Parks seems incapable of or unwilling to do. From this came the recommendation - and subsequent promises by Goldendale and Klickitat County - to protect the telescope's night sky through enactment of lighting codes to limit and reduce light pollution. Had these promises not been made, the telescope would not have been sited in - let alone anywhere near - the City of Goldendale.
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The dedicated amateur astronomers and generous community college who built the Goldendale Observatory’s massive 24-inch telescope have been thoroughly betrayed. Decades of non-enforcement of Goldendale and Klickitat County lighting codes have resulted in the Observatory’s southern sky slowly brightening year after year. Views of many splendid astronomical marvels in the southern part of the sky are muddied, and the grandeur of the center of the Milky Way is being increasingly veiled by the faint glow of artificial light:
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The revocation of Goldendale Observatory State Park's status as an International Dark Sky Park was a self-inflicted black eye for Goldendale, Klickitat County, and Washington State.
Nonetheless, while acting appropriately to protect the integrity of its Dark Sky Places Program, the IDA graciously left open the possibility for re-designation of the Goldendale Observatory. The IDA has a relatively long association with Goldendale Observatory and appears to wish to encourage positive steps to fulfill Dark Sky Park principles in Washington.
In order to conserve and protect its dark sky natural heritage, Washington State Parks would have to lead by example and reverse their resistance to advocacy for conservation and protection of the Goldendale Observatory’s vulnerable and threatened night sky. Without such "passionate advocacy," the City of Goldendale and Klickitat County appear incapable of doing the right thing by acting to enforce and improve the lighting codes they promised and adopted over 40 years ago to protect the Observatory's "valuable dark sky experience." Such action to conserve and protect the Observatory's night sky needs to be taken - before it becomes too late.
The revocation of Goldendale Observatory State Park's status as an International Dark Sky Park was a self-inflicted black eye for Goldendale, Klickitat County, and Washington State.
Nonetheless, while acting appropriately to protect the integrity of its Dark Sky Places Program, the IDA graciously left open the possibility for re-designation of the Goldendale Observatory. The IDA has a relatively long association with Goldendale Observatory and appears to wish to encourage positive steps to fulfill Dark Sky Park principles in Washington.
In order to conserve and protect its dark sky natural heritage, Washington State Parks would have to lead by example and reverse their resistance to advocacy for conservation and protection of the Goldendale Observatory’s vulnerable and threatened night sky. Without such "passionate advocacy," the City of Goldendale and Klickitat County appear incapable of doing the right thing by acting to enforce and improve the lighting codes they promised and adopted over 40 years ago to protect the Observatory's "valuable dark sky experience." Such action to conserve and protect the Observatory's night sky needs to be taken - before it becomes too late.
Citizens, taxpayers, and the public concerned with how their State Observatory is being managed and cared for can contact the following:
Washington State Senators and Representatives
Washington State Parks & Recreation Commissioners (360) 902-8502 commission@parks.wa.gov
City of Goldendale
Klickitat County Board of Commissioners
Washington State Senators and Representatives
Washington State Parks & Recreation Commissioners (360) 902-8502 commission@parks.wa.gov
City of Goldendale
Klickitat County Board of Commissioners
The opinions expressed above are solely those of the author, and may not represent those of the IDA, or their affiliates and members.
Daytime public outreach and science education.
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At the age of six I became hooked on astronomy after looking through my godfather’s telescope at craters on the Moon. Seeing my amazement, my parents gave me a telescope for Christmas, and took me to a planetarium where I could experience a dark “night sky” unencumbered by the bright suburban lights in the San Francisco Bay Area. The following summer, while camping near Mt. Lassen in Northern California, we saw the real Milky Way and I was mesmerized by the starry vastness of the universe. I built my first telescope in 7th grade, and have designed and built several others since then. Later while in high school I was awarded Guest Fellowship at NASA Ames Research Center, and witnessed in real-time the Viking Mars landing and the first Pioneer flyby of Jupiter. In 1979 I traveled to Goldendale with other amateur astronomers to see the total solar eclipse at the Goldendale Observatory, and it was a life-changing event, leading to a deeper interest is solar activity. Robert Yoesle BS magna cum laude Business Management & Communication AA Natural Sciences |
Above: homemade 8 inch Newtonian.
Below: In college I highly modified a Cave 12.5 inch Newtonian.
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