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Stargazers can visit famous dark-sky parks in the world and enjoy unpolluted views of night skies. Let's take a deeper dive into what you'll see at the dark-sky parks.
Joshua Tree National Park, California
Joshua Tree National Park is a popular attraction for stargazers living on the west coast. Despite being influenced by light pollution on its western borders from Coachella Valley cities, its relative isolation from major cities in the east (with Phoenix being the closest city area some 300 miles away), provides it with some of the darkest skies in California.
Elqui Valley, Chile
A popular wine region centered on the Elqui River in northern Chile, the Elqui Valley also offers ideal conditions (high-altitude, low-population, limited cloud cover) for uncorking a bottle and toasting the heavens above. Spanning some 90,000 acres, the region has the distinction of being named the first-ever Dark Sky Sanctuary by the International Astronomical Union in 2015.
It's also home to nearly a dozen observatories, boutique stargazing hotels and a large variety of tours that cover both cosmic and daytime spectacles.
Wadi Rum, Jordan
One of Jordan's most valuable tourist destinations, Wadi Rum is an otherworldly mountain desert featuring dramatic rock formations and wind-swept rust-colored dunes. Wadi Rum is an incredible landscape too (used for a lot of sci-fi movies like Rogue One, Prometheus and The Martian) and it's one of the dark places where you can just sit and look up at the wonder of the night sky with very little interruption.
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, America
It's no surprise that Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve has been building a reputation for good night sky viewing. The dry air, high elevation, and lack of light pollution all make the park an ideal dark-sky destination.
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains block much of the sky glow coming from nearby cities, shrouding( 遮蔽， 笼罩)the park—with its 149,164 acres of dunes, wetlands, grasslands, forests and alpine tundra—in darkness.
1. What do we know about Joshua Tree National Park?
A. It is relatively separated from major cities.
B. It is the first dark sky park in the world.
C. It is affected by no light pollution.
D. It is named as the darkest sky in the world.
2. What helps prevent Great Sand Dunes from light?
A. The wetlands. B. The sand dune. C. The forests. D. The mountains.
3. Who are the intended readers of the text?
A. Park goers. B. Space explorers. C. Star observers. D. Adventurous campers.
