Night skies along Skyline Drive

Shenandoah National Park celebrates the importance of dark skies and the beautiful night skies that Shenandoah protects with a park-wide Night Sky Festival today (Thursday, July 28) through Sunday (July 31).

Join park rangers, special speakers and local volunteer astronomers during four days of talks, walks, audio-visual presentations and sky viewing throughout the park. Shenandoah and other national parks provide excellent opportunities to experience starry night skies and natural darkness. Join in to learn the basics of astronomy, discover the importance of protecting dark night skies and enjoy some close-up views of stars and planets.

Activities will take place in a variety of locations throughout the park, with events co-hosted by both Shenandoah National Park and Delaware North at Shenandoah National Park, the park’s authorized concessioner. Speakers include Shanil Virani, director of the John C. Wells Planetarium at James Madison University; Greg Redfern, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s solar system ambassador; Dr. Uwe Konopka, associate professor of physics at Auburn University; and astronaut Tom Jones, senior research scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.

For a complete list of the weekend’s 34 events, visit nps.gov/shen and search for “night sky festival.” All programs, unless otherwise noted on the schedule, are free. There is a $20-per-vehicle entrance fee to the park, good for seven days.