Death Valley National Park
Death Valley · near Furnace Creek / Beatty · California Desert
Stargazing
At a glance
- Best season
- Winter & spring (Nov–Apr); summer heat is LETHAL; go near new moon
What is here
- Highlights
- milky-way · programs · astrophoto
- Landscape
- desert
- Amenities
- Furnace Creek & Mesquite Flat dark sites · Ranger astronomy programs & Dark Sky Festival · Dunes, Badwater & Racetrack foregrounds · Full park services at Furnace Creek
- Best for
- World-class desert darkness
- Features
- Gold-Tier Dark Sky Park · Darkest skies in the Lower 48 · Shadow-casting Milky Way · Iconic salt-flat & dune foregrounds
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- LETHAL summer heat — visit Nov–Apr only · Vast & remote — carry water, fuel & food; little cell service · Cold desert nights — dress warmer than you expect · Long drives to viewpoints — plan fuel & time
- Beginner friendly
- Yes
Stargazing detail
- Designation
- park
- Reach
- easy
- Darkness
- 5
- Sky notes
- One of the darkest places in the Lower 48 — a Gold-Tier International Dark Sky Park where the Milky Way casts shadows over salt flats, dunes, and painted badlands, with almost no light pollution for hundreds of miles
- Stats note
- Gold-Tier Dark Sky Park (2013); ~Bortle 1–2; darkest measured skies in the Lower 48
- Campground
- Yes
- Intl tip
- One of the darkest places in the Lower 48 — a Gold-Tier International Dark Sky Park (certified 2013) where the Milky Way can cast faint shadows over salt flats, dunes, and badlands, with almost no light pollution for hundreds of miles, plus ranger astronomy programs and a Dark Sky Festival. A bucket-list stargazing spot. But summer heat is lethal (visit Nov–Apr), the park is vast and remote (carry water, fuel, and food; little cell service), and desert nights are cold — dress warmly. Go near a new moon.
The guide
Death Valley National Park, certified as a Gold-Tier International Dark Sky Park in 2013, offers some of the darkest skies in t…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Death Valley National Park — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.46, -116.87