Astronomy

Death Valley Shines a Helpful Light on Dark Sky Week

And by "shines a light" we mean offers some tips on making the most of an evening spent outside.

Matt Anderson Photography

NAMING EVERY STAR... that can be viewed from a favorite sky-watching location? We're fairly sure that once we get beyond the well-known majors, Polaris and Vega and perhaps Sirius, we might need to consult whatever astronomy app or guidebook we have handy (or, even better, an astronomer friend who is along for the adventure). But knowing every last twinkle in the dome over our heads and loving the vast blanket of twinkle-a-tude are two different things, and plenty of us fall into the second category, which is a-ok. And many devoted twinkle appreciators are also always searching out low-lit locations, those earthbound areas where ground-based bulbage is fully absent, or at least quite dim, making the heavens above seem even more illuminated to our admiring eyes.

INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY WEEK, which is glimmering through April 30, 2022, prompts us to ponder these topics, and also look to the regions that boast natural dark sky places, those away-from-it-all wonders that feel as though they belong to the Milky Way each night, and the Milky Way belongs to them. Death Valley National Park is one such cosmic meetpoint, a low-of-elevation, nice-of-night destination that is one of the Golden State's starriest spreads. To help us get the most out of the dark nights around the national park, there are tips to peruse, specifically geared to acclimating to the outer world after the sun has set. The Death Valley National Park page shared a few, like having red cellophane on hand when you visit (here is why).

FOR MORE NIGHT MUST-KNOWS, turn your telescope in the direction of the Death Valley social pages now. And if you'd like to get up on everything to do with International Dark Sky Week, and how it is helping humans reconnect with the old, old rhythms of the stretch of time that falls between sundown and sunup? Follow the starry shimmer to this site now.

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