This National Park Was Just Named the Best Place in the U.S. for Stargazing-and It Feels Like 'Stepping Into the Cosmos'
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This National Park Was Just Named the Best Place in the U.S. for Stargazing-and It Feels Like 'Stepping Into the Cosmos'
"For those not in the know, astrotourism is one of the hottest trends in travel. It brings people to destinations where they can witness everything from the aurora borealis to solar eclipses, and to places with low light pollution where the stars shine the way they were meant to be seen. And according to Kühl, the outdoor apparel company, it might be more necessary than you think."
""If you've never been there, it can feel like stepping off the grid and into the cosmos," the team wrote. "Tucked into a quiet corner of Nevada, this IDA (Certified Dark-Sky Park) park is one of the few places in the country where the night sky still looks like it did a thousand years ago. The skies here are rated a perfect Bortle 1, meaning they're about as dark as you can get, and the park leans into that with 53 stargazing events a year.""
Astrotourism draws visitors to view phenomena such as the aurora borealis, solar eclipses, and deeply starry skies in low light-pollution locations. Widespread artificial light now prevents many people from seeing the Milky Way at home: about 80 percent of the population can no longer view it from their residences, and over 99 percent of U.S. residents live under skies impacted by artificial light. A small study compared five data points — number of stargazing events, light pollution level, dark-sky certification, maximum park elevation, and campground availability — and ranked Great Basin National Park in Nevada as the best U.S. national park for stargazing, citing IDA certification, perfect Bortle 1 skies, 53 annual stargazing events, and prime viewing from Wheeler Peak.
#astrotourism #light-pollution #stargazing #dark-sky-parks
Read at Travel + Leisure
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