Grand Canyon/Bryce Canyon astronomy festivals

[tmountainnut]

Next week, both of these national parks are having astronomy festivals.

http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/grand-canyon-star-party.htm

http://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/astrofest.htm

Wish I could go. Definitely would like to go to stare at the stars and attend some of the events.

Looks like Badlands NP and Great Basin NP also have similar festivals later on in the year too.

http://www.nps.gov/badl/planyourvisit/night-sky-program.htm

http://www.nps.gov/grba/planyourvisit/great-basin-night-sky.htm

Looks like a great way to go out and enjoy the stars under some dark skies.

[Dogwood]

I've attended a one night astronomy outing put on by the Bryce Canyon NP Rangers. They provided the telescopes. It was the best astronomy outing(looking through a telescope) I've ever experienced. Bryce Canyon NP has(had) an excellent astronomy demonstration at the Main Visitor's Center that is part of their permanent demonstrations although I was there last almost 4 yrs ago. Bryce Canyon is supposed to have the darkest skies in the U.S. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big island, Anza Borrego in Cali, the upper Peninsula in MI, Sedona, and other parts of N AZ and southern UT also have extremely dark skies.