dark skies

Visitors awed by the size and beauty of the Grand Canyon often comment on how beautiful its night skies are, too. Many visitors get their first-ever sight of the Milky Way there – and night sky programs are the most popular run by the National Park Service, with attendance around five times higher than for geology presentations.

The Coconino County Board of Supervisors is considering amendments to the county’s Dark Sky Ordinance, which regulates light emissions.

The Colorado Plateau is renowned for its star-filled night skies. The region boasts some of the darkest skies in the lower 48 states. One group is engaging across many fronts to raise more awareness of that spectacular quality. The Colorado Plateau Dark Sky Cooperative collaborates with communities, businesses, tribes, government agencies and individuals—anyone who might share their goal of showing the benefits of natural darkness.

The annual Navajo Bridge Star Party is this Friday and Saturday. This year’s talks will focus on identifying Navajo star constellations and historical Diné teachings about the stars.

The park’s latest Astronomer-in-Residence is poet Lauren Camp, a recipient of the American Fiction Award for Poetry. She spoke with KNAU’s Bree Burkitt about her first starry night on the job and finding inspiration in the dark.

Two different meteor showers will mingle in the skies tonight and through the weekend. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports on why it’s the best chance to see shooting stars this summer.

Nature photographer Imma Barrera specializes in starry skies. Born in Barcelona, she lives in New Jersey and has traveled to national parks all over the country to capture the beauty of the night. Her most recent stop is the Grand Canyon, where she’s serving as the Astronomer in Residence for the Grand Canyon Conservancy. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with her about her plans to photograph Sunday’s total lunar eclipse and raise awareness about the need for dark skies.

A new kind of broadband internet is coming to Tuba City on the Navajo Nation, one beamed down from space by so-called “satellite constellations.” This…

Hundreds of thousands of people visit the Grand Canyon National Park every summer to marvel at the geology. But to an astronomer, the view gets even…

SpaceX launched 60 new Starlink satellites into orbit last week, in their quest to expand Internet access across the globe. The company hopes to have 1500…