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Top 10 Incredible Stargazing Sites in The World
Urbanization has become the greatest reality of mankind. It has helped humans to move forward and achieve wonders which seemed impossible in the past. However, it took away one of the most precious privileges which a human possessed called Stargazing. With the rising levels of pollution, it is almost impossible to witness the beautiful scenes of the night sky with the incredible Moon and the shining stars.
But the good news is that there are still certain locations across the globe, which do not only have the clearest and darkest skies but also have great observatories with huge telescopes to look into space like never before for best night sky experience.
Want to know where you can find some incredible Stargazing sites in the world and how you can get access to them? Keep reading to know about some of the best night sky in the world with opportunity to star gaze.
Canary Islands
Research suggests that conditions in urban cities allow only around 500 stars to be seen shining in the night sky. Stargazing requires the darkest and clearest of night skies and the Canary Islands provide you with some of the best Stargazing sites. Due to its closeness to the Equator and high altitudes, the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain about a hundred kilometres west of Morocco provides the best conditions for stargazing.
Moreover, aerial route prohibitions have also helped in preserving the conditions suited to stargazing. The island also hosts a half-yearly Starmus Festival, which provides the visitors an opportunity to celebrate arts, science, and culture together. So the Canary Islands makes for one of the most spectacular of stargazing sites.
Joshua Tree National Park
PC: Renden Yoder
Located in Southern California, Joshua Tree National Park is one of the most ideal stargazing sites and provides the best conditions for stargazing due its strict guidelines and preparations for shielding artificial lights as much as possible to provide the best views of the sky.
The Park organizes a Night Sky Festival every year in November when the weather conditions are the best for witnessing a star-studded night sky. Visitors are requested to minimize their use of artificial light in the facility to make their experience more overwhelming and memorable. All these combine to make Joshua Tree National Park one of the best places in the world to stargaze.
NamibRand Nature Reserve
PC: darksky.org
The NamibRand Nature Reserve, located in Namibia offers the majestic beauty of the clearest skies since it provides the best conditions for stargazing. With almost zero urban intervention, the nearest village located to the reserve is almost 60 miles away. Guests can stay outdoors in the Reserve, camping and enjoy a bonfire and can also have guided tours around the vicinity. Time spent at one of the most beautiful stargazing sites would indeed be magical. No wonder the NamibRand Nature Reserve is considered one of the best places for stargazing.
Connemara
PC:Pierre Coroller, Flickr
Located in Ireland, it won’t be wrong if you described Connemara as the most remote place to urbanization in the West. Described as one of the best spots for stargazing in Europe and arguably one of the world’s best stargazing sites. Connemara stands out among most of the locations in Europe, described as suitable for stargazing in the West.
Sahara Desert
PC:Yun Xu
You might recognize Sahara as one of the largest deserts in the world, covering almost 10% of Africa. But, only a few people are aware of the fact that The Sahara Desert is ranked among the finest places for stargazing. The main reason is that it has a lesser population, resulting in almost zero night pollution and clear night skies. Visitors can attend stargazing events and enjoy camping under the beautiful astronomical scenes provided by one of the darkest skies in the world. The vast sand dunes of the Sahara make for one of the most perfect stargazing sites.
Cherry Springs State Park
Located in the state of Pennsylvania, USA, Cherry Springs State Park has been described as one of the top places for stargazing due to its altitude, since it is located on a 2300 ft. high mountain. The Park shields most of the light pollution due to its remote location, resulting in a night sky so dark that it provides you an opportunity to gaze at the nucleus of the Milky Way with the naked eye.
Yosemite National Park
PC:Nimish Gogri, Flickr
Located in Northern California, Yosemite National Park’s remoteness from the urban cities provides the best conditions for stargazing. The sky of Yosemite is one of the darkest around the globe that provides the best stargazing views including views of some of our planetary neighbors. Telescopes are set up by non-professional astronomers during the 3rd quarter of the year to witness the best astronomical scenes. The theatre in the sky assumes spectacular proportions at this beautiful stargazing site which is indeed one of the best places to stargaze in the world.
Cedar Breaks National Monument
PC:nps.gov
Located in Utah, Cedar Breaks National Monument is one of the few locations around the globe that are preserved from the harmful effects of urbanization for their darkest skies. The high altitude of about 10350 ft. allows the visitors to witness moon craters, Saturn rings and Galilean Moons of Jupiter, along with many star clusters, due to the most ideal stargazing conditions. Visitors can also enjoy free Star-themed parties from Memorial Day through Labor Day weekend. This makes the Cedar Breaks National Monument a truly versatile stargazing site.
Sagarmatha National Park
Located in Nepal, Sagarmatha National Park is one of the many Himalayan National Parks that are reserved for their darkest skies. Sagarmatha, in Nepali, translates into “Forehead in the sky”. With an altitude of 8848 meters above sea level, the remoteness of this area, protects it from light pollution, providing the best conditions for stargazing. Sagarmatha set in the snowy Himalayan region is a spectacular stargazing site.
Galloway Forest Park
PC:Daily Mail
Located in Scotland, Galloway Forest Park is the first dark night viewing park in The United Kingdom. With certain restrictions imposed on the developments around the area, Galloway National Parks minimum light pollution levels enable the visitors to witness more than 7000 stars with their naked eye along with neighboring planetary stars and the fluorescent band of the Milky Way. With light to almost zero pollution, the Sky Quality Meter Scale shows a reading of 21-23 in the Galloway Forest Park, while it is around 8-9 for an urban city. This shows the extent of darkness in the park, regarded as the most ideal conditions for stargazing.Galloway Forest Park makes for a mesmerizing stargazing site. it is indeed one of the world’s best destinations for stargazing.
If you are looking for an offbeat vacation and tired of vacations like a cruise to the Bahamas, then a visit to one of these spectacular stargazing spots is just for you. So head out for a nocturnal adventure to one of these best stargazing sites in the world. So, what are you waiting for?
Things to carry for stargazing:
- Telescope
- Binoculars
- Mobile
- Power bank
- Folding chair
- Folding table
- Torch, flashlight
- Jackets
- Gloves
- Shoes
- Socks
- Water bottle
- Snacks
How to Get to Stargazing sites?
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After reading this post, hope you now have answers to questions like where is the best place in the world to stargaze? Where can you see stars? Where is the best night sky in the world?
Get your backpack and telescope ready and head for some unforgettable stargazing experiences of your life today!
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We have been to couple of these parks and enjoy watching the stars while we are camping. Where we live the stars are amazing and hope more people take the time to stop and enjoy.
Wow, all of these photos are spectacular. I would love to go to any of these places to stargaze. I haven’t done that in so long.
I should probably take trips just for stargazing more often. It’s one of the best ways to enjoy the world we live in and be at complete awe with the stars in all its natural beauty! These places are perfect!
We live in a city flooded with lights. It’s awful. We do drive out to my mother n laws house every once in a while with the telescope, because she lives outside of the city lights. But our family would love to visit one of those places one day and stargaze.
I’m guessing any place would be good as long as there is no light pollution. Would love to head back to Joshua Tree. It’s so beautiful.
I thought for sure that Flagstaff Arizona would be on that list. After all Pluto was discovered there at Lowell Observatory and they have the dark sky initiative. No lights in the town can be over a certain wattage. I used to live there and it was amazing what you could see, but maybe Phoenix lights have created more light pollution in year’s past.
I have always heard that Joshua Tree National Park is great for stargazing. I would love to make it out there someday.
I haven’t been to any of these sites. I have a friend that loves to look at the stars that did really enjoy Yosemite.
Very useful list! My husband and I drove to Joshua Tree a few year ago but couldn’t find a spot for camp. We didn’t stay there long enough to check out the area or the stars.
I am a stargazing enthusiast. In fact I spent many nights in the Sahyadris in Maharashtra just spotting stars. Of the places you have listed, Sagarmatha National Park and Sahara Desert sound most exciting to me. Since these are also beautiful places, so I can spend the day soaking in the views and maybe even trekking.
I bet stargazing in the Sahara Desert is incredible! The best stargazing I’ve ever experienced was on an island on Lake Titicaca in Peru. I couldn’t believe my eyes!
I noticed that most of these places are national parks. It proves the point that the closer you are to nature, the better the star gazing. I remember spending so many nights on our roof in our small town house, gazing on clear skies and trying to locate the constellations. I want to do the same with my daughter some day. When I get the chance to visit any of these places, I will do a whole night of star gazing.
There is something wonderful about being able to look up at the sky and see the stars. It is a shame there are so many places now where you just can’t do that.
What a timely article for me to come across. My son has recently become very interested in star gazing. We recently signed up for snopes.com because there is too much light pollution around our house to easily look into space so we use the website to view things online. Cherry Springs seems like it may be close enough for a road trip. I’ll have to look into a family visit there. Maybe we’ll make it out to Joshua Tree sometime…I’d really like to visit there.
Wow, there are a lot of amazing parks to check out to stars from! Joshua Tree Park is so pretty.
I would love to see the stars so much. These are truly amazing places.
Wow the Sahara! I didn’t know that it’s one of the nicest place to stargaze. I never really dreamed of going to the Sahara but after reading your post, it’s now in my bucket list. 🙂 How I wish.
I have yet to experience gazing up the night sky and seeing the Milky Way Galaxy. I live too far from the places you mentioned in this post, so I guess I will just have to make do with our local parks out in the country.
I havne’t been stargazing in such a long time and I have never been to any of these places. I see a trip planning in my future!!
Each of these shots are incredible – one of the things I love about having recently moved to a rural property in an area with little light pollution is being able to head out onto my balcony and look up at the stars. Stargazing in these destinations sounds amazing though, especially places like Joshua Tree, and in the middle of the desert in the Sahara – that’s an ultimate dream!
Yosemite and Sahara Desert are places I would definitely love to stargaze one day, great suggestions
I LOVE the stars and stargazing. This is great, and I need to go and look at the stars more… I need to get out of the city.
Love stargazing and some great recommendations here. We’re thinking of going to Great Barrier Island in NZ this weekend as its supposed to be incredible for stargazing.
Can’t believe I haven’t known about these places before. They’re all absolutely breathtaking ! Thanks for sharing this list !
All these places look amazing and certainly void of any artificial light. Breath taking views of the planets and stars on offer if you can make it the effort to get out these destinations
Can’t believe I missed going to Joshua National Park when I lived in California! It was one place I wanted to go see the stars. Had never thought about the Sahara Desert as one place to go see them, but that one sounds dreamy too. One of the best places we have star gazed is at Bryce Canyon in Utah. It’s popular for it and one of the best places because of how dark the area is. Need to do more stargazing as it’s truly something to enjoy!
Joshua Tree is awesome for stargazing and I had no idea they were having a Night Sky Festival, sounds so cool! Another awesome place where we were able to see a fantastic sky was the Death Valley National Park in the USA!
My dad used to always take me star gazing as a child. I would love to go to all of these places to see the stars.
One of the things I really miss since we moved from Scotland to London is to see stars in the sky. There is just too much light pollution in the capital. I remember the night sky being beautiful in some of the National Parks we visited on the roadtrip around the USA. This is a great compilation.
I love stargazing, but living between London and Italy, I don’t see much! We were in Morocco last year in the Sahara Desert and loved our time there! The stars area beautiful but we didn’t have the equipment to capture it on camera.
We used to live in Tucson Arizona which should be up there as honorable mention. The University of Arizona is renowned for its astronomy department and the city makes a conscious effort to keep the sky dark for all of the observatories that sit on mountains surrounding the city. The campus telescopes are open every Wednesday and there are even campus bars that offer nightly viewing. The altitude plus dry desert air makes it a very special place indeed. Almost like Joshua Tree in neighboring California