Night vision

• For years, small groups of astronomy enthusiasts have traveled the globe chasing the rare solar eclipse.
• They have embarked on cruises to the middle of the ocean, taken flights into the eclipse’s path and even traveled to Antarctica.
• But astro-tourism – traveling to national parks, observatories or other natural, dark-sky locations to view astronomical events – isn’t limited just to chasing eclipses.
• As a consequence, most people have to travel to witness meteor showers and other common astronomical events.

Can’t miss astronomical events

• During totality, those in the path of the eclipse will see the Sun’s corona, or its outer atmosphere, behind the Moon’s silhouette.
• Finally, a partial eclipse occurs when the Moon blocks only a part of the Sun’s disk, as the name implies.
• Meteor showers are a far more common astronomical event than eclipses, and they are visible from any dark-sky location on Earth.
• Meteor showers occur when Earth’s orbit around the Sun takes it through the dust left behind by a comet.

Tips for aspiring astro-tourists

• The full moon rises at about 6 p.m. and sets at 6 a.m., making stargazing all but impossible because of its brightness.
• For ideal stargazing conditions, the Moon should be below the horizon, and the best viewing conditions are during new moon.
• You can use a moonrise/moonset calculator to determine the phase of the Moon and its rise and set times for any location on Earth.
• Amateur astronomers always joke that the sky is cloudy during the most interesting astronomical events.
• Though you may still see the brightest meteors from city suburbs, the darker your sky, the more meteors you’ll see.