Sleep under Four thousand Stars
Scroll eyes adjust in about 20 minutes
- Altitude
- 2,410 m
- Clear nights
- 311 / yr
- Sky brightness
- 21.9 mag/arcsec²
- Lights out
- 21:00
Sky vocabulary
Airglow — the sky’s own faint green light, visible only where nothing else is
The night, hour by hour
19:40 Blue hour on the terrace
21:10 The slit opens
23:30 Saturn, 60 cm aperture
01:50 The core overhead
04:10 Zodiacal light
The last light leaves the salt flats first. Dinner is early, and quiet.
Every lamp in the lodge goes out at nine. The dome turns without a sound.
Rings you could draw with a pencil. Most guests stop talking here.
The galaxy is bright enough to throw a faint shadow. Hold still and look for it.
A pale cone of dust lit by a sun that has not risen yet. Then the sky gives up.
Bring: a jacket, not a torch
Now: let your eyes catch up
Seeing tonight: steady
Hot cocoa on the terrace until two
Breakfast is at ten. Sleep in.