Night Sky Tourist

The Grand Canyon has such pristine dark skies that the Milky Way casts shadows on a moonless night. Since more than 80% of people on earth can no longer see the Milky Way, this is extraordinary! In this episode, I chat with Ranger Rader Lane about Grand Canyon National Park’s designation as an International Dark Sky Park, their annual 8-day star party, indigenous night sky culture, and more. I als...

Fremont Indian State Park in Utah has thousands of petroglyphs left by the ancient culture that once inhabited the area. Among them, several have been understood to have astronomical purposes. In this episode, I chat with John Lundwall who made this discovery about the petroglyphs, and Elizabeth Nagengast-Stevens, curator and archaeologist at the park. Visit NightSkyTourist.com/60 for more informa...

In this episode, we visit with Elizabeth Woolsey, owner of the Stargazer Inn and Bristlecone General Store near Great Basin National Park in Nevada. Liz shares about the exceptionally dark skies, views of the Milky Way every night, and stargazing opportunities at Great Basin, and International Dark Sky Park. Visit NightSkyTourist.com/59 for more information about this episode. CHECK OUT THESE LINK...

Dr. Danielle Adams is a cultural astronomer who works at Lowell Observatory as the Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer. She studies the development and transformations of indigenous Arabian astronomy through pre-Islamic poetry and Arabic historical literature. Dr. Adams is active in informal astronomy education, speaking to various groups about Arabian cultural astronomy and the heritage of the ma...

South Dakota is far more than harsh winters and endless prairie. The western part of the state is full of exciting things to do and see: Mt. Rushmore, the Black Hills, fossil digs, Badlands National Park, and so much more. But if you plan a trip there, you should put at the top of your list Badlands Observatory. This amazing night sky destination is located in Quinn, South Dakota, only a few miles...

What do bats, tequila, and light pollution have to do with one another? Find out the interconnectedness of these three seemingly unrelated things in this conversation with Dr. Tanja Straka. Dr. Straka is an urban ecologist with a focus on bats at the Technische Universität Berlin, Institute of Ecology. Her research focuses on light pollution, urban bats, and more generally, how urban areas can be...

In ancient times, nobody celebrated the New Year on January 1, or any other random day of the year. New Year’s Day was attached to an astronomically significant day, like the Spring Equinox or the Winter Solstice. In this episode, I take you back in time to follow the history of creating a more accurate calendar and how January 1 became the New Year for most people. Visit NightSkyTourist.com/55 fo...

Whether you’re shopping for the holidays, birthdays, get well gifts, or any other occasion, night sky-themed books for children are an excellent choice. In this episode, I chat with five authors and illustrators of some of the best of these books. Listen to Paul Bogard, Marsha Diane Arnold, Breanna McDaniel, Jamie Hogan, and Susanna Chapman share special tidbits about their beautiful books that wi...

Believe it or not, it's possible to have a night sky-related experience in a major urban city. Los Angeles ranks high on my list for such experiences, thanks to Griffith Observatory. In this episode, I chat with Mark Pine, the deputy director of Griffith Observatory. We even talk about the night the lights went out in Los Angeles and people started calling the police because of what they saw in th...

Fireflies are magical and mesmerizing. Yet researchers have been telling us that their populations are dwindling. So I chatted with Ben Pfeiffer, founder of the website Firefly.org, to learn more about what’s causing this problem and what we can do to solve it. Many of the measures we take for dark sky preservation apply here, too. Visit NightSkyTourist.com/52 for more information about this episo...

Our first-ever Halloween special will take you back in time to the origins of the spooky holiday. We’re going to discover the astronomical connection to the timing of Halloween and how it led to some of the traditions associated with it. Visit NightSkyTourist.com/51 for more information about this episode. LINKS IN THIS EPISODE Why Earth Stagger with a Drunken Wobble: https://nightskytourist.com/w...

Montana is home to some of the largest areas of pristinely dark skies in the country. It’s not known as “Big Sky Country” for nothing. Lynn Powers, the president of the Southwest Montana Astronomical Society, joins us to share about great locations in Montana to see the stars and participate in stargazing programs. Lynn is a NASA Solar System Ambassador, teaches at Montana State University, is a k...

This is the best time of year to see Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky, and Jupiter is really putting on a show this year. In this episode, I’m joined by Ted Blank, a NASA Solar System Ambassador, to talk about how to view these gorgeous gas giants. Visit NightSkyTourist.com/49 for more information about this episode. LINKS IN THIS EPISODE Night Sky Tourist Episode #1 with Ted Blank (Meet Ted Bl...

Have you ever been to Utah’s Antelope Island State Park in the middle of the Great Salt Lake? It’s only a short distance from the state’s capital, but it will surprise you with its beautiful dark skies. The island is a designated International Dark Sky Park and offers great stargazing programs, as well as unique landscapes and activities you can enjoy during the day. In this episode, I chat with W...

Have you had a chance to make any great stargazing memories? In this episode, I share tips for protecting your night vision, gadgets to enhance your stargazing experiences, and ideas to add more fun for the whole family. Visit NightSkyTourist.com/47 for more information about this episode. LINKS IN THIS EPISODE Things to See in the Night Sky in 2022 Guide: https://nightskytourist.com Night Sky Tou...

Ranger Austin Tumas joins me from Hovenweep National Monument to talk about the Ancestral Pueblo people who once lived there and the remarkable archaeoastronomy they left behind. Austin started working for the National Park Service 7 years ago as a college student. Since then, she’s worked in 8 different parks across the country. Astronomy was part of the activities at 6 of those parks. Although h...

Australia is a stargazing paradise and offers different night sky views than we experience in the Northern Hemisphere. In this episode, I chat with Dimitri Douchin, founder of Blue Mountains Stargazing. He shares about the unique experiences his company offers and gives us some great tips for other things to do in the area. Dimitri is an astrophysicist and serves on the faculty of Western Sydney U...

Ric Alling chats with me about the fascinating world of how humans used the sky to develop calendars, why we invented clocks, and the benefits of getting back to seasonal living. Ric is the manager of the Community Outreach Program at Arizona State University’s School of Earth & Space Exploration. He also puts together the programming at the Marston Exploration Theater and the Gallery of Scien...

Paul Bogard chats with me about his book The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light. He is also the author of The Ground Beneath Us: From the Oldest Cities to the Last Wilderness, What Dirt Tells Us About Who We Are . His most recent works are the coffee table book To Know a Starry Night and the children’s book What if Night? Paul is an associate professor of En...

Harun Memedinovic is one of the founders of Skyglow Project. In this episode, we chat about our shared love for dark sky advocacy and how Harun uses his photography skills to bring attention to the issue of light pollution, or skyglow. Harun is an award-winning photographer and videographer whose work has been featured in National Geographic, BBC Earth, Vogue Italia, Astronomy Magazine, Wired, For...

Geoff Notkin, star of the tv show Meteorite Men , stops in to chat about the auction for his personal meteorite collection that ends on June 22, 2022. Learn about his 30 years in the world of meteorites, how he assembled his collection over the years, and details about this one-of-a-kind auction. You can catch my previous episodes with Geoff Notkin: Episode 19 Chasing Meteorites with Geoff Notkin...

I chat with Jared Low, a Supervisory Park Ranger for the Interpretation Division at Olympic National Park. Jared manages the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center and the Olympic National Park Visitor Center in Port Angeles, WA. He coordinates the interpretive programming for visitors in the east district of the park, including the popular night skies program at Hurricane Ridge. Jared has worked with the...

The Night Sky Tourist podcast is taking a late Spring Break to refresh and come back this summer. There will be no new episodes during the month of May 2022. But check out my suggestions for your stargazing experiences during this break. SPREAD THE WORD Help us reach more people by subscribing to the podcast, leaving a review, and sharing it with others. GET TO KNOW US MORE Visit NightSkyTourist.c...

Emily Rice, aka DJ Carly Sagan, is an organizer for the international Astronomy on Tap program. She’s fun and witty, but she’s also super smart! Emily is an Associate Professor of Astrophysics at Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New Yourk. She is faculty in the Physics Ph. D program and a resident research associate in the Deprtment of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natura...

Patti Aaron chats with me about a gorgeous star map hidden in plain sight at Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam is an extraordinary engineering work that controls the Colorado River. Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the dam in 1936. The dedication site now has a star map and other remarkable symbols that are truly worth the visit. Patti is the Public Affairs Officer for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Lower Colora...