The Jasper Dark Sky Festival just gave you another reason to visit Jasper, Alberta. Jasper National Park’s mountains are already well-known and well photographed, but the Dark Sky Festival will get you point your camera just a little bit higher for a different view. Also, if you’re lucky, the Northern Lights may even make a surprise appearance.
General Information
This year, the Dark Sky Festival will run from Oct. 18-27, 2019. Multiple events will take place throughout Jasper National Park. Ticket prices will depend on the events you attend. Some free events you can take advantage of are a guided hike called By the Light of the Moon and Project Black Hole, an art installation by artist Scott Portingale.
Past speakers at the Dark Sky Festival included guests from NASA, Star Trek actor George Takei, and even astronaut Chris Hadfield. So get ready to fill your October with science, space, food, music, and everything in between!
For the official site of the event, click here. For tickets and information on the pricing of other events, click here.
Highlights of the Jasper Dark Sky Festival
This year, get ready for tons of events to make your Dark Sky Festival experience the highlight of your fall. Don’t wait too long as there will be a limited number of seats for the many of the events.
Keynote speaker, Jad Abumrad of Radiolab will talk about how to make science more accessible and understandable to a wider audience. Additionally, SPACEtalks will feature astronaut Dr. Robert Thirsk, scientist-astronaut candidate Dr. Shawna Pandya, and many more.
If you’re into photography, photographers Jeff Bartlett and Jack Fusco will be hosting a talk on astrophotography. They’ll discuss the basics and techniques they use in their work. For a more in depth session, they’re also doing a five day photography workshop for those who really want to hone their craft in night shooting.
If you’re interested in UFO’s, you’re in luck because Nick Pope, one of the world’s leading experts on UFO’s, will be at the Dark Sky Festival as well. He will be one of the guests at the Science for Breakfast event to answer your questions on who else is out there.
Other Events You Can Attend
The planetarium will be hosting a special screening at their dome as well. From Jasper to Jupiter (…And Beyond) will take you from the Earth to the moon, the canyons of Mars, and so much more for an out of this world experience.
With a festival comes also a special dining experience. Besides taking advantage of the local restaurants in Jasper, the Dark Sky Festival has some special treats for you. One event you can take advantage of is the Food Lab. This event combines science and food on a plate. Learn how kitchens experiment with different techniques and ingredients to bring a new dining experience to the table. And yes, this event includes eating.
There is a reason why Jasper is the perfect venue for the Dark Sky Festival. It’s because it is one of the world’s largest dark sky preserves. What does this mean? This means that Jasper avoids pointing a lot of lights towards the sky. This makes the night sky as clear as it can be, because all the light pollution that’s common in cities won’t be there to block your view. You’ll be surprised how many stars you can actually see when you’re there. And during the festival, the stars will be center stage both in the sky and the Dark Sky.
