Under the perfect conditions, anyone can look up at Jasper’s night sky and see more than one galaxy.

Of course, you’ll be able to see part of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, but you’ll also be able to see the Andromeda Galaxy, located more than two million light-years away.

Now if you’re really lucky and you catch a clear, moonless, dry night, you might even see the Triangulum Galaxy, which is approximately three million light-years away. 

And that’s with the naked eye, said Peter McMahon, Jasper’s resident “Sky Guy” during the Dark Sky Festival being held Oct. 21-24.

“There are things you would normally need a telescope to see in the city that you can just look up and see in Jasper,” he said. “It’s not magnified, but you can see them just with your own eyes in an area like this.

“You can see faint star clusters and nebulas that are basically clouds of gas where new stars are being born, and all sorts of these faint little fuzzy objects that in context are these amazing multi-light-year-wide things that, again in the city you’d be lucky to see them in a telescope, and here you can just look up and see them with the unaided eye.”

McMahon was one of the people to suggest Jasper put its name forward as a dark sky preserve, a designation the park received in March from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

The proposal was prepared by Parks Canada in collaboration with the astronomical society and the Municipality of Jasper.

To be designated as a dark sky preserve, of course you need dark skies, but you also need to be close to facilities. Now the word facility is used lightly. McMahon said Canada’s first preserve, outside of Algonquin Park in Ontario, has only an outhouse and a parking lot. 

The preserve in Grasslands National Park, on the other hand, has a few bed and breakfasts, inns and restaurants. 

“That’s about average,” said McMahon. “So the fact that Jasper has all these other things to do in the day time is amazing.

“I think Jasper is quickly becoming the Walt Disney World of dark sky preserves,” he added.

“You’ve got world class facilities. If the queen shows up or a celebrity, you’ve got a place to put them that’s suitable for that. You can’t say that about any dark sky preserve on Earth.”

Jasper is the 11th preserve in Canada and the eighth to be in a Canadian National Park. It is also the world’s largest preserve and is tied as the darkest with Grasslands National Park.

As part of the Dark Sky Festival, organized to celebrate Jasper’s dark skies and star gazing opportunities, McMahon will be acting as “a cheerleader for the dark sky preserve.” This will include meeting with local businesses to talk about ways to get people excited about astronomy, and facilitating children’s talks and presentations.

Meanwhile, local restaurants will be participating by holding dark sky themed dining, the elementary school gym will be turned into a digital planetarium, there will be rockets launched from the elementary school lawn and multiple speakers will be talking about stars, suns and balls of fire.

To learn more about the events, check out the festival website at www.jasperdarkskyfest.com

Gazing locations

If you’re wondering where to go to get the best view of Jasper’s dark skies, the Sky Guy has got you covered.

Peter McMahon, resident “Sky Guy” for the Dark Sky Festival, suggests heading out to Pyramid Island, about five kilometres out of town on Pyramid Lake Road.

“It’s like your own private little star gazing island,” he said. 

And if you can’t get there, you can always hit Whistler’s Campground in Marmot Meadows, located approximately three kilometres out of town on Highway 93.

McMahon’s last suggestion is the Icefields Parkway. He said any rest stop will do. Or if you’re staying at the Columbia Icefield, as long as you look away from the lodge and toward the glacier, you should have a great view.

Happy gazing!