Discover the best stargazing destinations around the world with Lonely Planet’s latest release Dark Skies.  Written by space tourism and travel writer Valerie Stimac, this guide to the stars includes information about 35 dark-sky sites and national parks, where to see the aurora, the next decade of total solar eclipses, how to view rocket launches and even the lowdown on commercial space flight.

Dark Skies is divided into sections.  Whether you’re looking to witness the dark sky at a specific preserve, observe a natural phenomenon such as a meteor shower, eclipse, or the aurora up close, or whether you want to travel to a major telescope or laboratory, this Lonely Planet guide has got you covered.  The book also includes a section that allows you to explore suborbital space flight, and for those simply wanting to gain a better understanding when looking up from their backyard into the night sky, you’ll be able to learn about different space-related activities, and gain an understanding of where and how to have that experience.

Author of the book, Valerie Stimac writes in her introduction to the book that “the skies above us are part of our heritage, both natural and cultural.  Astronomy and stargazing are an important part of human history, one that can connect us back to early myth or awaken us to the vast scale of our universe and it’s many mysteries.  Witnessing the sweep of the Milky Way, the remains of passing comets, or the shimmering aurora, we better understand space and our place in it.  This book will help you experience all of this and more first-hand.”

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