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.
2023
Schedule of Events
Our 2024 festival is scheduled June 5 - 8; updated event schedule to come.
Daytime Activities
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Family Friendly activities in the Visitor Center plaza.
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.
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.
The Amazing Nung'Wu Universe
9:00 p.m. 45 minutes
Explore the night sky and various constellations through the eyes of the Southern Paiute people. Information will also be given on the how the journey started to revitalize the skill of watching the pootseevs (stars).
Autumn Gillard is the Cultural Resource Manager for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah. She is a maternal descendant of the Cedar Band of Paiutes which is a part of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah. She holds an associate degree in social and behavioral science, and earned her undergrad degree at Southern Utah University where she graduated magna cum laude majoring in Anthropology and minoring in Psychology. She is currently finishing up my master's degree in cultural resource management at New Mexico Highlands University. 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 from the Salt Lake Astronomical Society 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.
Daytime Activities
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Family Friendly activities in the Visitor Center plaza.
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.
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.
Cosmology: Uncovering Time and Space
9:00 p.m. 60 minutes
Join Paul Ricketts from the University of Utah to explore the universe from beginning to end. How did we first start exploring how the universe progressed? Who helped give the first hints of how big it really is? How does it all fit together? And how will it end?
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 from the Salt Lake Astronomical Society 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.
Daytime Activities
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Family Friendly activities in the Visitor Center plaza.
Evening Program
A big infrared eye: what we’ve learned from the James Webb Space Telescope so far
9 p.m. 45 minutes
The amazing James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been taking science data for about a year. I will talk about the some of the unique capabilities of the telescope, and then focus on the pretty pictures and science highlights from its first year of data. I’ll also share results from my own JWST program observing the black holes at the centers of nearby galaxies, and talk about how observing time is allocated on the telescope.
Anil Seth is an observational astronomer whose research focuses on understanding how galaxies and their central massive black holes form and evolve. His work uses data from Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, as well as large ground based observatories in Chile and Hawaii. He is also the director of undergraduate studies in the Physics & Astronomy department, and has been active in establishing the University of Utah’s dark sky studies minor, the only program of its kind. He loves seeing the Milky Way from a dark site and enjoys doing night sky outreach.
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.
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.
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 from the Salt Lake Astronomical Society 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.
Daytime Activities
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Family Friendly activities in the Visitor Center plaza.
Keynote Programs
When Sun and Moon Align with You … in Bryce Canyon.
Dr. Tyler Nordgren 9 p.m. 60 minutes
A solar eclipse is an awe inspiring event that throughout history has inspired dread, foretold the fall of kingdoms, and stopped armies in their tracks. In a clockwork heaven it is something both predictable, yet rare, natural, yet utterly foreign to our everyday experiences. From eclipses of sun and moon we have measured the size of the moon, shape of the Earth, and mapped out the world. Today, they are no longer omens of doom, but tourist attractions that thrill millions where they occur in an event both interplanetary, yet deeply personal. They are the moment the sun and moon align with you! Location given at sign-up.
Dr. Tyler Nordgren is a professional astronomer and artist. He holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cornell University where he did work on dark matter. For over a decade he has worked with the National Park Service to turn the national parks into the single largest source for public science and astronomy education in the world. His popular science book “Stars Above, Earth Below: A guide to astronomy in the national parks,” reveals what visitors to America’s national parks can observe in their dark night skies. For the 2017 “Great American Eclipse” he wrote the book, “SUN MOON EARTH: The History of Solar Eclipses from Omens of Doom to Einstein and Exoplanets,” describing the vast array of social and scientific influences eclipses have had throughout history. Dr Nordgren is also the creator of the “Half the park is after dark” poster campaign for night skies in America’s national parks. His astronomical artwork is on sale in park gift shops across the country. He created the poster for President Obama’s 2015 White House Astronomy Night and his 2017 Great American Solar Eclipse are now in the collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. In 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover joined Spirit and Opportunity on Mars, each carrying sundials, or “Marsdials” which Dr. Nordgren helped design through his science and art.
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 from the Salt Lake Astronomical Society 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.
Map of 2023 Festival Activities
Learn more about where to go for the 2023 Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival by visiting the activity map.
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
Daytime Activities
Daytime activities include activity tents, solar telescopes, and other opportunities open to the public at the Visitor Center between 11 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.
Disabled 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.
NPS/Keith Moore
Last updated: September 11, 2023
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Contact Info
Mailing Address:
P.O Box 640201
Bryce,
UT
84764
Phone:
435 834-5322
Phones are answered and messages returned as soon as possible as staffing allows.
