As you travel to corners of the country relatively untouched by life, the night sky begins to appear inkier, making it a perfect canvas for stargazing. If you find the right spot, a stargazing session on a cool winter night can be extremely rewarding, with stunning views of the dark sky and all that exists in the endless universe. But to make that possible, it’s important to plan your trip at the right time, to the right place, with a vision of what you want to spot. We spoke to Ramashish Ray, cofounder of Starscapes, for a complete guide to stargazing in India for your next adventure trip:
The best time to go stargazing in India
Weather plays a major role in stargazing, with heavy clouds making it difficult to spot much. The best time to go stargazing is in the spring, autumn or winter months, which are from March to June and September to February. “One needs to avoid the monsoon season for its dense cloud cover, but monsoons unfold in different periods and in different conditions in different geographical locations. So track the best time as per where you’re going for your stargazing activities,” says Ray.
The best time to go stargazing can also be narrowed down by the moon phase. Astronomical observation is the best during (or just before) the new moon day, as that’s when the sky is the darkest and the visibility of celestial objects highest.
How to pick a place for stargazing in India
- Avoid places with a lot of visual obstructions, such as mountains or buildings on the horizon. A 360-degree dome view is ideal. At the least, pick a place with a clear breadth of sky. The sun, the zodiacs, most of the constellations and planets move in the east-to-west belt, which is why some of the best elements are visible in that zone.
- Pick places with the least light and dust pollution. The Bortle scale, a nine-level numeric scale that measures the night sky's brightness at a particular location, helps identify places with the best astronomical visibility, with Bortle 1 skies being the best and darkest. The scale’s ranking is available on any light pollution map and also several applications for dark sky observation.
- Factor in the movement of celestial objects to determine where they will be most visible at the time of your trip. Most objects in the night sky are seasonal and move in an elliptical orbit. Their view can get obstructed by terrestrial objects depending on their place in the sky and your vantage point, especially if they’re close to the horizon. For a stargazing trip to Spiti, for instance, it’s important to know if the celestial objects will be close to the horizon where they could be obstructed by mountains, or high up in the sky at the time that you’re visiting.
Image: Facebook @Starscapes
The best places to go stargazing in India
Stargazing is difficult in cities due to the high concentration of light pollution. Ray also suggests avoiding areas with dusty dry weather and forest fires or other incidental polluting factors.
Some of the best places for stargazing are hill tops with dense forest cover, which ensure less light pollution. This means destinations such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh are ideal. But Ray narrows this down further in terms of accessibility: “Try spots around airports in Kullu, Dehradun and Leh as you’ll find some of the best open meadows here, with 360-degree views of the sky.”
Some of the best places to go stargazing are Jageshwar in Uttarakhand, Kaza in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, Kausani and Mukteshwar in Uttarakhand, and the Aravali hills in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Many places near Bengaluru are also ideal for a night sky view, such as Hassan, Coorg and Madikeri, as are the beaches of Goa. The vast expanse of the Dzukou Valley in Nagaland makes it ideal for stargazing.
Benital in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district has been developed into a spot for astronomy enthusiasts, with high-range telescopes and bonfire evenings on offer, all bookable via Starscapes.
In the Andaman Islands, sibling duo Tanaz and Shiraz Noble run kayaking tours across Noble Island on new moon nights. Here, bioluminescence lights up the inky waters around while stars decorate the sky above.
In 2022, the cluster of six hamlets—Bhok, Shado, Punguk, Khuldo, Naga & Tibetan Refugee habitations within the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary in Hanle, Ladakh, were notified as the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve–India’s first reserve of its kind. The place actively curbs light pollution through restrictions on use of artificial lighting indoors and on vehicles, among other measures.
Hassan, KarnatakaAmith Nag Photography
Star-gazing for the first time? Here’s a beginner’s guide:
- Plan what you want to see and chalk out your trip accordingly. Ray recommends using apps like Stellarium, SkyView and Light Pollution Metre to pin the best time, place and conditions to spot various elements of the sky.
- Start with the basics. Stargazing begins with dark adaptation, which is the process of your eyes getting used to the darkness. Give yourself about half an hour to adjust, and then some more time to observe patterns in the sky.
- Primarily, be patient, as this time should be spent away from any screens and devices for best results. For beginners, binoculars are the ideal piece of equipment to understand the sky and its movements. Telescopes bring the objects closer, but can be complex and difficult to use.
- Consider planning a trip with a guide, as “they can guide you, reveal stories and show things which you might not be able to identify otherwise.”
- The best view is visible in the wee hours of the night, when the pollution levels lower, but the temperature dips as well. Go with ample layers of clothing to keep you warm and comfortable.
What to spot on your next stargazing trip
“If you’ve gotten a good look at both the moon and the planets, consider it a good trip,” says Ray. These objects are closer than others, and also shine brighter (with Venus and Saturn being the brightest), which is why sightings are also possible in more crowded areas such as the outskirts of a metro city.
But deep sky objects that are almost a million light years away are more tricky to spot. The light from them that reaches us is so faint that even one too many satellites reflecting sunlight from the Near Earth Orbit Network (NEON) can cause disturbances in the viewing. These objects include sky clusters, which are stars formed in clusters from the same interstellar cloud, and nebula, which is a gaseous formation that is created wherever stars are born. There are also patterns formed by stars, called asterisms, and constellations, which are patterns recognised by the International Astronomical Union. One can also spot the arm of the Milky Way. The galaxy's spiral structure is created by two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. The dramatic sight is best seen in winters, rising early in the evenings, and in early mornings during summers.
