Gaze at the stars under space in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Space is at your fingertips in Flagstaff, Arizona. Standing during the day on the edge of nearby Meteor Crater, which is about three-quarters of a mile wide and about 560 feet deep, you get an amazing sense of the literal impact of outer space on Earth. At night, a dazzling canopy of stars fills the Flagstaff sky, vivid and bright even without a telescope in the dry desert air at 7,000 feet above sea level.
A summer trip to Flagstaff is not only a great way to beat the Arizona heat in the cool mountain air, but it’s also a way to connect with the universe and get an otherworldly look at both the history and future of human exploration of the outside world. It’s also a fun way to have an adventure. Sky.
Travelers to Flagstaff can explore some of these incredible highlights with a visit to Meteor Crater, Lowell Observatory, or a ‘Dark Sky’ city back roads tour.
Explore ‘Dark Sky City’ Flagstaff
Flagstaff’s ponderosa pine-covered hills and tourist-friendly downtown are worthy destinations, but the city truly shines at night. Like the millions of stars that shine in the night sky, they are usually only found in remote deserts.
Flagstaff’s urban stargazing is not a coincidence of geography, but rather the result of decades of efforts to reduce the city’s artificial light profile. In 2001, Flagstaff was certified as the world’s first ‘Dark Sky City’ due to strict zoning rules governing the use and brightness of outdoor lighting.
Casual visitors can take advantage of this Dark Sky City just by looking up. Being in an urban setting and seeing so many stars overhead is really uncomfortable (and a lot of fun). You probably won’t be able to see the Milky Way from downtown on a busy Saturday night, but if you walk a few blocks to the edge of town, it’s easy to get a five-star view, so to speak.
For those who want a closer look at the night sky (and can’t bring their own telescope), Flagstaff offers a number of guided stargazing tours. Flagstaff Stargazing Adventure. Tour operators offer stargazing and astrophotography tours of the region, providing equipment, education, and transportation to the region’s major dark sky viewing spots.
Stargazing enthusiasts will love the Delta Aquarius meteor shower on July 28 and 29, and the Perseid meteor shower, which sees meteor trails traverse the night sky nearly every minute, and Perseus on August 11 and 13. You should time your visit to Flagstaff to coincide with the meteor shower.
Many area hotels offer rental telescopes and tips to the area’s major stargazing spots. If you want a taste of SF, stay in the newly renovated Flagstaff Americana Motor Hotel, It reopened in June of this year and features a Jetsons-inspired ‘retro-futuristic’ design, with stargazing telescopes available for rent right next to the motel.of High Country Motor Lodge We provide our guests with stargazing guides and host occasional stargazing parties. And maybe toast to the sky in Flagstaff with a beer before or after stargazing. Dark Sky Brewing Company, with “a beer as unique and beautiful as every star, meteor, and comet you see from your backyard.” For a more realistic activity with a Starship atmosphere, start your late-night cosmic bowling in a flashing venue. Starlight Lanes.
How to get to Meteor Crater
From Flagstaff while keeping to the space theme meteor crater As you make your way through the stark, reddish desert landscape, you can easily imagine yourself on the surface of Mars. Pulling up at the Barringer Visitor Center in Meteor Crater is like visiting a space station that sits disproportionately in the middle of this empty landscape. Pay your entrance fee and head through the entrance to the Crater Rim Trail, where you’ll feel like you’ve stepped on the surface of the moon. It is the moment when you feel “wow” when you see the crater for the first time while feeling the vast atmosphere that is difficult to capture in photos and videos.
In fact, Meteor Crater is so similar to the lunar landscape that all Apollo astronauts in the 1960s trained here before their lunar missions, wearing spacesuits and exploring the crater’s rocks and dust. trained by limping in (some conspiracy theorists claim this) was the so-called moon landing seen on television). Take a guided tour along the crater’s rim trail to learn about her 50,000-year history of the crater and her 50-plus year connection with NASA.
Meteor Crater not only has a large hole in the ground, but also privately operated attractions, including smaller but interesting ones. Ballinger Space Museum. Lots of Apollo 11 space capsules and real meteorites on display, a fun ‘4-D’ theater experience with rocking seats, and a newly opened mine themed with flagstaff area coffee and snacks Includes cafe and lounge.
Don’t miss the Lowell Observatory
Historic in the hills above Flagstaff Lowell Observatory It is the cornerstone of the city’s celestial past, present and future. Founded by Percival Lowell in 1894, the observatory is where Pluto was discovered in 1930 and where the first measurements of the expanding universe were made in the 1910s. Visitors can learn about these stories and more through interactive visits during the day, including an up-close look at an old telescope. It is quite amazing to learn how these astronomers mapped the solar system using technology that now seems primitive.
With its revolutionary Lowell Discovery Telescope, the Lowell Observatory still serves as the premier research institute, recording new discoveries. But you don’t have to be a professional astronomer to view the night sky from Lowell’s prime hilltop location.of Giovare Open Deck Observatory At Lowell, visitors can get spectacular zoomed-in views of different aspects of the night sky through six different high-performance telescopes. Staffed to help guide your eyes to planetary features, tours of the Moon, and even distant galaxies and nebulae. To experience outer space more deeply, Premium Access Tour Private guided telescopic viewing or with 2 hours of viewing Astrophotography course.
So whether you’re an aspiring professional astronomer or just interested in dark skies, Flagstaff is well worth a visit to explore its otherworldly connections. After a night of stargazing, take a quick nap and enjoy the variety of daytime adventures Flagstaff has to offer.
