National Park star parties 2023: Events for stargazing, meteor showers under dark skies

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Curious travelers have the chance to indulge in astronomy at some of the few remaining safe havens for pitch-black skies providing a clear glimpse of thousands of luminous stars.

To promote public excitement and knowledge about the issue, several National parks will host stargazing festivals for sky watching and meteor showers in 2023. For those who can’t make it to these events, many national parks offer regular star parties throughout the year.

Here’s a list of events to take advantage of and make the most of the darkness this year.

Badlands National Park astronomy festival in South Dakota — July 14 – 16
- Past events have included a guided walk through a "solar system," demonstrations, guest speakers and observations with special solar telescopes.
Shenandoah National Park night sky festival in Virginia — Aug. 11–13
- The Blue Ridge Mountains park is located within a day’s drive from two-thirds of Americans.
- Past events have covered space weather, nocturnal creatures and more.
Great Basin National Park astronomy festival in Nevada — Sept. 14–16
- The 77,000-acre park is one of the least crowded national parks and is home to the Great Basin Observatory — the only research-grade observatory in a national park.
- Participants in the festival’s “Art in the Dark” program can paint in low-light conditions and experiment with how their eyes perceive color.
Joshua Tree National Park night sky festival in California — Oct. 13–14
- The festival conveniently overlaps with an annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse. The moon will appear to obscure between 70 and 80 percent of the sun.
- Joshua Tree became an official dark sky park in 2017.
- For the tens of millions of people who live in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Joshua Tree is the “nearest convenient place to go stargazing under a relatively dark sky,” according to the International Dark Sky Association.