Where the Milky Way Still Shines: Greater Zion After Dark

The sun has set. Twilight fades. The sky is fully dark. You lie back and look up to the heavens.

Thousands of pinpricks of light punctuate the onyx sky, like flickering sparks cast from a fire. The majesty of Greater Zion’s incredible rock features surround you, hidden by darkness, their jagged edges outlined by silver starlight. 

Stretching from north to south, a river of luminous clouds flows across the sky. Like spilled milk trickling a path through the stars, the armband of our Milky Way Galaxy shines with a pale white glow. 

You bring binoculars to your eyes to take a closer look. That flowing radiance is not a formless blob of light, but rather billions of individual stars. Their endlessness is a hint of roughly 100,000 light-years infused with nebulae, stars, and solar systems that fill our home galaxy.

The night sky is an ever-present feature, existing longer than Earth’s 4.6 billion years of history. Yet for 80% of Americans, and one-third of the global population, the Milky Way is completely invisible where they live. As cities grow and modernize, artificial light unintentionally spills into the night, reshaping a natural darkness that has existed far longer than we have.

To reintroduce visitors to the glory of an unpolluted night sky, Zion National Park and nearby communities drastically changed their nighttime lighting practices. Thoughtful light fixture design and an overall reduction in light use at night led DarkSky International, a non-profit organization dedicated to dark sky advocacy and preservation, to officially recognize the town of Springdale and Zion National Park as internationally certified Dark Sky Places.

Zion National Park

DarkSky International Park

The Town of Springdale

DarkSky International Community

Snow Canyon State Park

DarkSky International Urban Night Sky Place

The level of darkness you can experience in Greater Zion allows for something amazing to occur. Here, light emanating from local galaxies can be visible without the aid of binoculars or telescopes. Yes, you read that right, on a cloudless and moonless night, you can see galaxies with the naked eye in Zion National Park!

A Rare Glimpse of the Universe

As an astronomy guide with Stargazing Zion, a company based out of Virgin, Utah, on the border of Zion National Park, I take guests on a journey through space and time. By scientifically explaining the nature of our universe and sharing stories about how cultures interpreted the stars, I strive to showcase the beauty of an incredible night sky. 

My favorite part of the tour is when I introduce guests to the Milky Way. At first, a faintly glowing expanse permeates the fading light of twilight. Once true night sets in, the full magnitude of our dense and swirling nebulae, billions of stars strong, comes into view. 

Guests frequently ask, “What is that?” or “Is that a cloud?” 

With barely contained glee, I proclaim, “No! Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at the armband of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.”

Gasps and cheers of excitement burst from the crowd. 

The wonder is only beginning.

In between sighs of awe and silent pondering, I announce that our galaxy is not alone in the sky at night. Our nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, is visible to the naked eye!

At 2.5 million light-years away from us, it is the furthest object we can see without the aid of binoculars or telescopes. Using the constellations of Cassiopeia and Andromeda, I teach them how to find the blurry oval that is the center of the Andromeda Galaxy. 

The rest of the night is spent viewing deep space objects in our telescopes, retelling ancient stories about constellations in the sky, and providing perspective on the timescale of the universe. 

If you put the entire 13.8 billion years of our universe’s history in the context of a calendar year, humans have only existed for eight minutes. Eight minutes out of an entire year! We are dust in the wind compared to our universe’s story. 

The tour ends with guests proclaiming they are forever changed. Just two hours under the night sky instills in each of them a sense of unity, humility, and gratitude. 

Connect With Something Bigger

Spending time underneath a truly dark sky has a way of connecting you to your place in nature, history, time, and the cosmos. The raw beauty of geological creation visible in Greater Zion during the day is only a tiny sliver of our planet’s grand story. The rest is told after the sun sets and the light fades away.

Come experience the majesty of Greater Zion’s dark skies for yourself.

About the Author

ZOIE BROOKS

Zoie Brooks is in her element when she is outdoors exploring the wonders of the natural world. She graduated from BYU-Hawaii with a Bachelor of Science in biology with a marine emphasis. Now living in the desert, she shares her love of science and learning as an astronomy guide for Stargazing Zion. In her free time, you can find her in the outdoors exploring trails with her camera, fishing, climbing, and park hopping with her husband and three kids.

After a night under the stars, you’ll want somewhere comfortable to land.

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