Annual Astronomy Festival

2024 Astronomy Festival Dates

The 2024 Astronomy Festival will be held June 5 - 8, 2024. Check back for updates!

 

 

NPS/Peter Densmore

Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival

There’s no place quite like Bryce Canyon by day, and no time like a new moon in June to enjoy it by night. Astronomy festivals feature family-friendly daytime activities and special evening programs, telescope viewing, and constellation tours.

See below for our schedule of events. As always, attending the festival is free with park admission.

Visit our Ranger Program page for more information on our regularly-offered ranger programs.

 

2024

Schedule of Events

Our 2024 festival is scheduled from Wednesday, June 5 through Saturday, June 8.

Day 1: Wednesday, June 5

Daytime Activities

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Family Friendly activities in the Visitor Center plaza, including solar telescopes.

Evening Programs

Star Stories

8:30 p.m. 45 minutes
Planetarium Educator Dr. Amy Sayle takes you on a trip through the constellations and the eternal legends they tell. Help act out one of the greatest star stories ever told.

Dr. Amy Sayle is a longtime planetarium educator, storyteller, coordinator of  large public skywatching events, coordinator of North Carolina's annual Statewide Star Party, and member of the Chapel Hill and Raleigh astronomy clubs.

NOTE: Location given at sign-up. This program requires reservations, which can be made same-day at the Visitor Center Information Tent beginning at 8 a.m. until capacity is reached.

Just 42!

9:00 p.m. 45 minutes
Astronomy math is VERY hard, but the science itself is pretty simple when compared to biology, geology, etc. Once you exclude Earth, there's only 42 things left to learn about before you can understand the rest of the known Universe. Join Kevin "The Dark Ranger" Poe to get a semester's worth of astronomy from this single show.

NOTE: Location given at sign-up. This program requires reservations, which can be made same-day at the Visitor Center Information Tent beginning at 8 a.m. until capacity is reached.

Stargazing

10:00 p.m. - Midnight
Aditional Parking lot across from Visitor Center
Shuttle hours will be extended for the festival. As parking at the Visitor Center and evening program locations will be limited, we advise parking at the Shuttle Station or boarding from your campground in the park. Shuttles will run until 12:15 a.m.

Volunteers point their telescopes at some of the night sky's most spectacular sights. White-light flashlights are prohibited due to their negative impact on night vision.

Free Astrophotography Workshop

9:00 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.
High Plateaus Institute and Bryce Amphitheater area
See detailed information and sign up below.

Day 2: Thursday, June 6

Daytime Activities

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Family Friendly activities in the Visitor Center plaza, including solar telescopes and a special NASA Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope booth.

Evening Programs

Evening Program (Details Coming)

8:30 p.m. 45 minutes

NOTE: Location given at sign-up. This program requires reservations, which can be made same-day at the Visitor Center Information Tent beginning at 8 a.m. until capacity is reached.

Tour of the Universe: You Are Here

9:00 p.m. 45 minutes
Rocket through space and sail among billions of stars and galaxies. Utilizing some amazing simulation software Astronomer Dean Regas will guide you through the mind-boggling scale of the universe. Along the way you’ll stop at the Moon and individual planets. Then you’ll make the jump to lightspeed and head to interstellar space and see all the galaxies in the universe. 

NOTE: Location given at sign-up. This program requires reservations, which can be made same-day at the Visitor Center Information Tent beginning at 8 a.m. until capacity is reached.

About Dean Regas: Dean Regas is a renowned public speaker, author, educator, national popularizer of astronomy and an expert in observational astronomy.He served as the astronomer for the Cincinnati Observatory from 2000-2023.  He is the author of six books including  "100 Things to See in the Night Sky" and “How to Teach Grown-Ups About Pluto”. From 2010-2019 Dean was the co-host of the PBS program Star Gazers.Dean has contributed to Astronomy Magazine, Sky and Telescope Magazine, Farmer's Almanac, USAToday, Science Friday and Here & Now.  He is also the host of a popular astronomy podcast called "Looking Up with Dean Regas"Dean brings the complicated field of astronomy down to Earth for people of all ages.

Stargazing

10:00 p.m. - Midnight
Aditional Parking lot across from Visitor Center
Shuttle hours will be extended for the festival. As parking at the Visitor Center and evening program locations will be limited, we advise parking at the Shuttle Station or boarding from your campground in the park. Shuttles will run until 12:15 a.m.

Volunteers point their telescopes at some of the night sky's most spectacular sights. White-light flashlights are prohibited due to their negative impact on night vision.

Free Astrophotography Workshop

9:00 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.
High Plateaus Institute and Bryce Amphitheater area
See detailed information and sign up below.

Day 3: Friday, June 7

Daytime Activities

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Family Friendly activities in the Visitor Center plaza, including solar telescopes and a special NASA Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope booth.

Evening Program

Star Stories

8:30 p.m. 45 minutes
Planetarium Educator Dr. Amy Sayle takes you on a trip through the constellations and the eternal legends they tell. Help act out one of the greatest star stories ever told.

Dr. Amy Sayle is a longtime planetarium educator, storyteller, coordinator of  large public skywatching events, coordinator of North Carolina's annual Statewide Star Party, and member of the Chapel Hill and Raleigh astronomy clubs.

NOTE: Location given at sign-up. This program requires reservations, which can be made same-day at the Visitor Center Information Tent beginning at 8 a.m. until capacity is reached.

Evening Program (Details Coming Soon)

8:30 p.m. 45 minutes

NOTE: Location given at sign-up. This program requires reservations, which can be made same-day at the Visitor Center Information Tent beginning at 8 a.m. until capacity is reached.

Stargazing

10:00 p.m. - Midnight
Aditional Parking lot across from Visitor Center
Shuttle hours will be extended for the festival. As parking at the Visitor Center and evening program locations will be limited, we advise parking at the Shuttle Station or boarding from your campground in the park. Shuttles will run until 12:15 a.m.

Volunteers point their telescopes at some of the night sky's most spectacular sights. White-light flashlights are prohibited due to their negative impact on night vision.

Free Astrophotography Workshop

9:00 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.
High Plateaus Institute and Bryce Amphitheater area
See detailed information and sign up below.

Day 4: Saturday, June 8

Daytime Activities

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Family Friendly activities in the Visitor Center plaza, including solar telescopes and a special NASA Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope booth.

Keynote Program

Science Behind NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

9:00 p.m. 45 minutes
Hear from NASA scientist, Dr. Julie McEnery, about the next NASA flagship telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Scheduled to launch before May 2027, Roman is designed to settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics.

NOTE: This program requires reservations, which can be made same-day at the Visitor Center front desk beginning at 8 a.m. until capacity is reached. Location given at sign-up.

About Dr. Julie McEnery: Dr. Julie McEnery is an accomplished scientist with over two decades of experience in space research. As the Senior Project Scientist for the Roman Space Telescope, she is responsible for leading the scientific goals of the mission and ensuring that they are achieved.

McEnery received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manchester and went on to earn her PhD in Physics from University College Dublin. After completing her education, she began her career focusing on studying high-energy astrophysics and gamma-ray bursts.

In 2002, McEnery joined NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center as a research astrophysicist. During her time at Goddard, she worked on several missions, including the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, where she served as the Project Scientist. Her work on Fermi contributed significantly to our understanding of high-energy astrophysics, including the discovery of the first counterpart to a gravitational wave source in 2017.

In 2020, McEnery was appointed as the Senior Project Scientist for the Roman Space Telescope, a NASA observatory set to launch in the mid-2020s. As the lead scientist for the mission, she is responsible for ensuring that the telescope meets its scientific objectives, which include studying dark energy, dark matter, and the formation of galaxies.

McEnery is an active member of the scientific community and has received numerous awards for her contributions to the field of astrophysics. In 2012, she was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for her work on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. She is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society. In 2015, McEnery was awarded an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin. The Julie McEnery Medal at University College Dublin is awarded in her honor.

In addition to her research, McEnery is a dedicated mentor and educator. She has mentored many students and early-career scientists and is committed to increasing diversity in the STEM fields. She has also taught classes and given talks on astrophysics and space science at universities and conferences around the world. She is co-Director of the Joint Space Science Institute between Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland and at the George Washington University.

Stargazing

10:00 p.m. - Midnight
Aditional Parking lot across from Visitor Center
Shuttle hours will be extended for the festival. As parking at the Visitor Center and evening program locations will be limited, we advise parking at the Shuttle Station or boarding from your campground in the park. Shuttles will run until 12:15 a.m.

Volunteers point their telescopes at some of the night sky's most spectacular sights. White-light flashlights are prohibited due to their negative impact on night vision.

Free Astrophotography Workshop

9:00 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.
High Plateaus Institute and Bryce Amphitheater area
See detailed information and sign up below.

 

New!

Free Astrophotography Workshop

Join astrophotographer Don Riddle and Dr. Michael Kelzenberg from CalTech for a special astrophotography workshop. The workshop is open to all levels of experience, but is geared toward beginners. Workshops are free, but limited to 15 people per night. Classes begin at 9 p.m. with 90 minutes of instruction at the High Plateaus Institute near Sunrise Point, followed by astrophotography among the hoodoos of the Bryce Amphitheater.

Review the information below, then sign up by e-mailing [e-mail] or clicking this link.
 

Required Equipment

• Camera with ISO up to 6400 (DSLR or Mirrorless)
• Wide angle lens 50mm or less (stock lenses 18- 55 mm can work. f stop lower than 3.2 recommended)
• Sturdy Tripod
• Red light headlamp
• Warm Clothes
• Memory Card
• Thumb Drive
• Extra Batteries (Recommended)
• Camp Chair (Recommended)
• Remote shutter control (Recommended)

Schedule

9 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Classroom instruction on principles of astrophotography and getting your camera set up for the night.

10:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. (or as late as you like)
Astrophotography among the hoodoos of the Bryce Amphitheater near Sunrise Point. Experiment with composition and other special effects with Don and Dr. Kelzenberg.

(Optional) Next Day: 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Learn in-depth how to edit the photos you took the night before with guidance from Don and Dr. Kelzenberg.

 

Map of Festival Activities

Learn more about where to go for the 2023 Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival by visiting the activity map. The 2024 map will be very similar, and is coming soon.

 

Daytime Activities

Daytime activities include activity tents, solar telescopes, and other opportunities open to the public at the Visitor Center between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day of the festival.

 

Evening Programs

Evening Programs are the only festival events that require a free ticket. Pick up a ticket the day of the program at the Visitor Center Information Desk. Programs are held at 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. each night, and the location is shared when you pick up your ticket. See Schedule of Events above for program details.

 

Telescope Stargazing Site

This year's telescope site will be located within the park across the street from the Visitor Center. It will be open each night of the festival from 10 p.m. to midnight and is open to the public. We are excited to share the night sky with our visitors, and thank our partners at the Salt Lake Astronomical Society and University of Utah for their participation, expertise, and generosity with their telescopes.

Weather Cancellations

In the event that weather requires cancelling telescope viewing, we will post an update no later than 10 p.m. to our Twitter page. No account is needed to view the page.

Transportation

Parking at the Visitor Center will be very limited, so we strongly recommend parking at the Shuttle Station and riding the Star Shuttle into the park. If you're staying at a park campground or the Lodge, you can pick the shuttle up there. The last shuttle bus leaving the Visitor Center will depart each night around 12:15 a.m. and we'll ensure everyone gets where they need to go.

Handicap Parking

Disabled parking spaces are available at the Visitor Center and the Telescope site. Star shuttles are also fully accessible. If Visitor Center spaces are full, a ranger can direct you to disabled parking spaces at the turn for North Campground (first left past Visitor Center).

What to Bring

Overnight temperatures are typically in the 40s Fahrenheit. A light jacket is a good idea if you plan to be outside for awhile after dark. While red light flashlights are okay, we ask that no white light flashlights be used due to their negative effect on night vision. After using a white light, it can take well over thirty minutes for your eyes to begin to readjust to the profound darkness of Bryce Canyon.

Amenities

Portapotties will be available at the Telescope Site. No other amenities will be available.

 

Star Shuttle

Each night of the festival, shuttle service will continue to limited locations between 8 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. Parking will be limited at Evening Program and Telescope locations, so we strongly recommend parking at the Shuttle Station in Bryce Canyon City (2 miles north of park entrance) and riding the Star Shuttle into the park. Shuttles arrive at each stop every 15 minutes. Use of the Star Shuttle is free with park admission.

Star Shuttle Stops

• Shuttle Station
• Ruby's Inn Campground
• Visitor Center (Telescope Viewing Site)
• Sunset Campground
• Bryce Lodge
• North Campground Outdoor Theater

 

NPS/Keith Moore