Episode 56: Astrotourism - Visiting the Heavens with Valerie Stimac

Angie Orth:

Have you ever found yourself staring into space? Gazing quizzically toward the dark sky, you contemplate the wonders of life. Then, suddenly as if out of nowhere, a bright comet shoots across the sky, or the trails from a meteor shower shimmer down like tiny flecks of gold. These stunning skyscapes are more than just celestial wonders to behold, they're also excellent reasons to travel. Astrotourism offers breathtaking views, star-studded shows, dark and quiet landscapes, and very often complete solitude. All you need to do is look up.

Today, we are visiting the heavens with Valerie Stimac. As our veteran expert on all things Alaska, she's also had a long-time love for the celestial. So, grab your binoculars and make space on your bucket list. It's time to go to the stars.

Hello, Valerie Stimac. We are so excited to have you back on the show.

Valerie Stimac:

Thanks for having me.

Angie:

Last time you were here we talked all about Alaska, so I'm very excited to have you back to talk about another specialty of yours, which is astrotourism. In 2019, you published Dark Skies, a Practical Guide to Astrotourism, a beautiful book and now a second edition is coming out.

Valerie:

It's called Stargazing around the World. It's published by Lonely Planet and it's available at all major retailers.

Angie:

I cannot wait to get my hands on that one. Let's define astrotourism, what it is, what activities it includes, and what it isn't.

Valerie:

Yeah, so this is a term that focuses on traveling for astronomy-based experiences.

Angie:

You grew up in Alaska, which has long been a popular destination for seeing the northern lights. What was it about the dark skies where you grew up that inspired this interest in astrotourism?

Valerie:

The 2 main experiences that I recall are seeing the Hale–Bopp comet in about April of 1997. Where I was growing up, it was actually light in the evenings, so I remember going with my dad onto sort of a mountain slope where we had a really good view and looking through a telescope and seeing this comet.

The other one is that my grandfather was big into meteorology and astronomy, and he came to visit and at one point, I remember standing at the bus stop waiting for the school bus to come and he points up over the mountains into the sunrise and there's this very bright dot that's moving and he says, “That's the space shuttle.” Much as I see now when I see the space station go overhead, I just have this awe that there are humans in space all the time.

Angie:

What's the most incredible, eye-opening thing you've experienced as you've researched for your book and experienced astrotourism in different places?

Valerie:

One that comes to mind is being down in Chile in the Elqui Valley, which was a location I wanted to visit because it was in the path of the 2019 solar eclipse. So, I'm there and I'm out on a stargazing tour and realizing that because I was below the equator, I could see the Magellanic Clouds, I could see part of the Milky Way I'd never seen before, and the Constellation Orion—which is very commonly spotted in winter in the Northern hemisphere—was actually upside down. Getting this real truth to the fact that we live on a globe within space was just perspective-shifting.

I saw a rocket launch in Florida in 2017—I think it was 2017—and realizing that man has the capability to defy gravity in this incredible way to leave our planet. There's nothing like the awe that you feel at man's capability to solve incredible problems, the incredible defiance of gravity, which is this one thing in physics that we just can't get over. You know, we just have to live with gravity, but we actually can define it with science and technology and that's really cool.

Angie:

I feel right there with you with the rocket launches. I grew up in Florida, so I've seen them a lot. I saw the shuttles launching from Cape Canaveral when I was a kid. So exciting, but I think now as an adult, it hits different.

One that I just saw was from the deck of a cruise ship and I'd never seen it from that perspective before and it was incredible. All the kids on the deck were just mesmerized, so that's our whole next generation of explorers, astronauts, and scientists.

One of the biggest drives in tourism is experiences, right? We love to have a good experiential trip. People want to do more than walk around and see sites. They want to feel something, so what do you think? Is astrotourism the perfect fit for an experience-seeker?

Valerie:

Broadly speaking, I think that what astrotourism offers us is the chance to feel very small in the wonder of this universe that we are part of. A lot of what I get from any astronomy experience is a sense of perspective of where I fit on this planet, in this solar system, in this universe. And we're very small, but that's actually a powerful motivator to take the important things in life seriously and let lots of other stuff go, too. I don’t think you're going to have the same experience that you do when you see an incredible sight here on Earth, and you admire the majesty of the Grand Canyon or the Arches out west or anything like that, but you're kind of having the same experience. You're just looking billions of years into time across the night sky or across lightyears to where there's probably life somewhere out there and we just haven't found it yet.

I think all that perspective-shifting is what's really powerful about astronomy and astrotourism. And as soon as you shift your perspective about it, you realize we're part of this much bigger thing happening, and that's been happening since before any of us were born, before we even knew what time was. I get goosebumps about it every time.

Angie:

One of the things about astrotourism is everybody can be an astrotourist because everybody has access to the sky. What are some tips that you have to give someone who's looking for good stargazing spots close to home?

Valerie:

You can typically just search dark skies or stargazing near wherever you live on Google and you'll get articles that pop up. This is a well-covered topic, including on my own website. Once you find a dark sky location—personally I prefer an app called Night Sky, another really good one is called Stellarium which will show you what you're looking at. It's really interesting to go look at stars, but it's nice to have context to what you're looking at, and that's especially true if you're trying to see a specific event other than finding a dark sky location.

I would say broadly speaking, within most urban areas, you're going to need to look at probably driving at least 90 minutes to get out of the city. That is just the reality of the way we've built our cities, the way they sprawl and the way that light just moves out from where we live because we actually don't get light straight up from cities, we get what we call is a “light bubble.” Even in really good dark sky locations like Death Valley National Park, you can still see the light bubble from Las Vegas and Los Angeles, both of which are hours away and shielded by mountains, so unfortunately, you're going to have to drive. If you happen to live in a nice dark sky location, if you live in a more rural setting, you may have great dark skies that you can work with right under your backyard. Lucky you! I would love that here, but I also like the amenities of a city, and like most Americans, that means I've got to be willing to drive, so you might want to look at planning an overnight trip so that you don't have to drive back really late after you finish stargazing.

Angie:

Once someone decides to become an astrotourist and they want to get into this hobby, what do they need supplies wise to get into this?

Valerie:

You don't need much, that's the great part. Obviously, I've already mentioned you need some sort of transportation if you don't live in an area where you can just stargaze from your backyard, and there actually are ways to go urban stargazing. If you do have a backyard or park and you can build some shields to block the lights so that your eyes can get used to the darkness, you can improve the quality of your night sky experience near urban areas, you don't necessarily need any special equipment.

There are great starter binoculars and starter telescopes that will unlock a little bit more of the night sky. You can often find them for under $100. I actually have a travel scope that doesn't do a whole lot, but it unlocks Saturn's rings so you can just sort of see that Saturn is not just a dot, it actually has these rings around it. It unlocks the ability to see the Galilean moons of Jupiter. There are lots of moons of Jupiter, but there are 4 big ones that we can see pretty easily, and they call them the Galilean moons because Galileo was able to see them way back several centuries ago. So, they don't require particularly complex astronomy equipment to see and binoculars do work, too. If you are into birding or some other activity and you have a pair of binoculars, just try using those and see what you can see.

One of the great things that you can easily observe much more clearly with a very basic investment in equipment is the moon. The moon is beautifully unlocked easily with a small telescope or binoculars. The only other thing I would recommend is just understanding that you're going to want layers, blankets, hats, gloves, it's cold at night. We all know that even in the summertime when the sun goes down it gets, it gets chilly. The worst thing that can happen is you get all set up, you get out there, and then you get cold. Thinking ahead with blankets and warm layers will help to make your whole stargazing experience much more comfortable.

Angie:

My husband and I saw a meteor shower when we were in Yellowstone last year and we rented a car that had a sunroof that we could open and stand out of. We heated up the car, made it very nice and warm, and then opened the roof and we could kind of stand in there and see everything with the lights off. And then also bears didn't get us because we were in the car, so win-win.

Valerie:

Yeah, that's a good pro tip. One other thing that I would recommend if you're really getting into stargazing is to look in to getting either a headlamp or flashlights that are red because red light doesn't affect our ability to see in the dark. You can use a red light if you're out somewhere where there might be wildlife and keep an eye on your surroundings without affecting your ability to then look up and enjoy the night sky.

Angie:

Can you give us a brief rundown of the seasonality of astrotourism events? Like the aurora is seasonal, what other events offer a wide window of viewing opportunities versus a one-off like a shuttle launch or something like that?

Valerie:

From a visibility standpoint, aurora season is sort of summer and winter depending on which hemisphere you're in. In the northern hemisphere, we get aurora during our winter months and the southern hemisphere gets it in their winter months, which is our summer. The prime aurora australis season is in the summer from our perspective in the northern hemisphere, so from about late May through mid-September.

There is some seasonality less related to the actual seasons of our planet and more to do with our celestial orbit with regard to meteor showers, so there's a series of meteor showers that happen every year right around the same time. If you know when those are any given year, you can go out and see them.

And actually, eclipses which are sort of one-off events, also have a bit of rhythmic nature to them just in the way that the sun, the moon, and the Earth dance through our orbits, so they are highly predictable. We know all the eclipses that are coming for the next 500,000+ years and other than the weather interfering, it will happen when we know it's going to happen.

Angie:

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What are the top 3 places to see the northern lights? I'm going to guess Alaska is one of them.

Valerie:

Alaska is a good location because it is under the auroral oval. The way that our atmosphere is shaped— and not getting too technical—but basically, the aurora activity is most visible in a certain kind of ring around the top and bottom of our planet. So, Alaska is under that ring, Northern Canada is under that ring, Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, any of them are great.

I like Alaska because for a lot of folks, it is much more accessible from a logistics standpoint. It is within the United States, you don't need a passport to visit, there are lots of tours, and there's lots of tourism infrastructure to help you do that.

Northern Canada is great, but it is a little bit harder to get to the parts of the country that have the best aurora viewing in a typical year, I guess I should say. This year and next year are so good for aurora viewing that you can see the aurora in a lot more places than you normally would because the aurora activity is just so strong.

Iceland is really popular, especially for those of us out east because it's an easy flight to get to Iceland, and Iceland is also really well-placed for viewing.

Norway is the other very popular destination. They were sort of the first and preeminent aurora tourism spot in the world, and Alaska and Iceland have tried to get a little bit of that market because it's so great to get that winter tourism in these northern destinations that are very summer tourism-focused.

Angie:

What is the best way to actually go see the lights? Should people take a tour or a cruise or just rent a car and go see it themselves? What do you think?

Valerie:

I always recommend taking a tour just because a local tour guide is going to have the knowledge to explain what you're experiencing. They are also going to know different spots to go. One of the big questions I get a lot about Alaska travel is where can I go where there's nobody else? Well, locals aren't going to tell you that to be honest. You can get a car, drive, and try to find a dark spot, that's very reasonable to do, but I like the idea of having a guide who has their own spots, and the guides all tend to work together to help keep the dark sky quality really nice for everyone who wants to view the aurora.

You can just go out on your own if you're familiar with the destination and you feel comfortable driving in winter conditions, and you have your emergency gear just to be safe, you can do it on your own. But I always like to go on tours. I like having the extra knowledge—even as much as I know about it—I like having the extra knowledge of a guide.

Angie:

If somebody's bucket list includes the northern lights or the southern lights, do you have any money-saving tips for getting there and seeing them without spending your whole life savings?

Valerie:

The best advice I can give is to plan ahead. This winter of 2024 and winter of 2025, we are at the peak of solar activity. Everybody knows it, everyone's excited about it, and that means that demand is driving up prices already, even for next winter. The earlier you can get your travel plan sorted, the more likely you are going to be able to save on—not necessarily hotels or lodging—but on your flights and your cars. If you can get your dates locked in, get your accommodations sorted, and get your car rental, that will help reduce the cost.

The only other thing I would potentially suggest is that from a tourism perspective, the shoulder season of the northern lights viewing season is increasingly very low season. From about September 15 through November 1, the weather is much less predictable. It's actually far more likely to be cloudy, which is what you're risking, but it can be a lot cheaper simultaneously because it's not prime season, your odds aren't quite as good.

Angie:

Let's talk about Dark Sky Parks. You write about this a lot in your book and I think maybe folks don't know about them. So, tell us about what they are and how a destination gets this designation.

Valerie:

Dark Sky International is the main association that works with locations that have really good quality, natural dark skies to help protect those areas. If you think about a national park protecting a natural resource on the ground, a Dark Sky Park is sort of the equivalent for the sky overhead once the sun goes down. Dark Sky International works with the local companies, homeowners, government, all of those stakeholders to create ordinances that protect that resource of the night sky, and they are all over the country, all over the world. It is a really neat initiative that has been gaining momentum. I believe there are well over 100 Dark Sky Parks around the world that protect this resource, that as we said earlier, most of us can't experience at our homes.

Angie:

Are there activities offered in Dark Sky Parks? How is it similar to a national park or just like showing up and looking up?

Valerie:

Some Dark Sky Parks are also national parks. A great example is Joshua Tree National Park. It might be just, here's where to go camping, here's how to go stargazing on your own. If it's not a national park, you'll often find tour companies that offer dark-sky-specific activities, so they might do night hikes, they might do night photography sessions, and there might be specific events for meteor showers. If you visit many Dark Sky Parks, you will find tourism infrastructure there to help you experience it if you don't just want to go out on your own, but in most cases, you can also just go out on your own.

Angie:

What are some of the best Dark Sky Parks in the U.S.?

Valerie:

The American Southwest is full of great Dark Sky Parks. A lot of people love visiting the Southwest because you can do daytime activities, visiting national parks or other natural wonders, and then you can stay up late and do some star gazing, and there's lots of tourism to support that.

If you need a state to narrow it down even further, go to Utah. Arizona is great as well. Colorado has got a good number of parks, especially out in the western part of the state. New Mexico is starting to have a lot, you can't really go wrong in the Southwest.

One of my favorites, a little bit closer to those of us out East, is Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania. It is this beautiful, teeny, tiny little pocket of really incredible quality dark sky that is very well-protected. It's been protected for a long time, even before it became a Dark Sky Park, and it is a great one for those of us on the Eastern Seaboard or the Rust Belt—which is where I live—that you can typically go have incredible darkness compared to most of the rest of this part of the country.

Then there are some incredible ones around the world. I haven't been there yet, but I can still say confidently, New Zealand is a fantastic destination. There are rocket launches in New Zealand, they have a dark sky sanctuary, they have the aurora australis in their winter months. There are just a lot of great experiences regarding astrotourism broadly, so that's number 1 on my bucket list because it has just so much of what I want to do in general.

Angie:

New Zealand would be incredible. We just did a New Zealand episode about all the fun things to do in the daytime, now we have to do all the fun things in the nighttime.

Like you said, weather is always going to be a factor to consider with astrotourism, and it's something you can't really predict. What advice do you have for making this type of vacation enjoyable? Even if the weather doesn't cooperate?

Valerie:

My number 1 rule when I'm traveling and the weather isn't cooperating is to sleep. Catch up on sleep, you can't bag sleep. It would be great if we could because then we could stay up when we want to stay up. But if the weather is just not great, take advantage of that opportunity to be well-rested.

You're still on vacation, you know you're still traveling, you're still invested in giving yourself new experiences, and if tonight is cloudy, but tomorrow is perfectly clear and you want to stay up until 4 a.m., you're going to be more capable of doing that if you didn't stay up being mad at the clouds or watching Forensic Files on TV in the hotel. Can you tell what I do when I travel?

The other thing I would say is if you are specifically traveling for astronomy tourism, shift your days and nights just a little bit, even if the weather isn't cooperating. If you do decide, “OK well, tonight's cloudy, but I'm just going stay up until midnight instead of 10 p.m. when I normally go to sleep, and I'm going to sleep in a little later.” Because when you get a good night of dark skies that you can see clearly, you're almost shifting your time zones to be more aligned with the experience you want to have.

Angie:

The rule of thumb is if you're there to see things at night, just keep your mornings open. You don't want to be so worn out that you get back and you can't function.

Valerie:

The only other thing I would say is if you're going to Alaska for the northern lights, don't just plan those activities. In the very possible event that it's cloudy your entire trip, plan at least one other thing during the day so you have something else you're looking forward to. Having a dog sledding tour one day, then a reindeer experience, and then a really good dinner. That gives you something you can still have as memories, even if you don't end up getting to have the aurora experience you specifically wanted.

Angie:

Valerie Stimac, thank you for joining us, and thank you to our listeners for being with us.

If you're planning a trip, be sure to connect with a AAA Travel Advisor, check out AAA.com/travel, or visit your local branch.

This podcast is a production of Auto Club Enterprises. If you enjoyed it, please subscribe and leave us a review. I'm Angie Orth, thank you for traveling with AAA.