Embark on a Group Stargazing Tour in Grand Teton National Park
Join a small group of other travelers and enthusiastic astronomers on our stargazing tours in Jackson!
Compared to our public stargazing programs with sometimes over 100 attendees, Group Stargazing Programs give you more individualized attention from our enthusiastic astronomers because there is a 13 person maximum on each program. There will be less wait time to look through our telescopes compared to our public programs, which means that during the evening we’ll be able to show you even more of the extraordinary objects in the sparkling night sky!
During the summer months Group Stargazing Tours in Jackson head out into remote dark sky locations within Grand Teton National Park. We’ll set up one of our telescopes show you planets, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and more. We’ll also have plenty of iPads ready with the StarWalk app on them so you can continue exploring the heavens while your friends and family are entranced through the telescopes. You’ll leave our programs with a new understanding of the Cosmos and a cosmic sized helping of SOUP (Sense of Universal Place).
Price
$175/person
No dudes en llamarnos al 1-844-WYO-STAR (1-844-996-7827) to book your program and avoid the 6% online booking fee.
Duration
2.5 – 4hrs
(depending on location)
Availability
June – Sept.
Group Size
4 person min – 13 person max
What’s Included
- Experienced, passionate, and expert astronomer.
- Hotel pick-ups from 7:30pm-9:30pm (depending on the number of pick-ups that evening)
- 30-60 min. drive to and from one of the darkest stargazing locations possible in Jackson Hole
- 2 full hours of telescope time shared with your group
- Uso de silla y manta para acampar
- Uso de un iPad con la aplicación StarWalk para explorar el cielo con programas con telescopios
- Respuestas a todas sus preguntas candentes sobre el Universo
- Programas de observación de estrellas impresionantes y educativos para todas las edades
- Some Cosmic SOUP (Sense of Universal Place)
What’s Not Included
- Guide gratuity
Dark Sky Initiatives
After 10 years of hard work, Wyoming Stargazing was able to get all of Teton County certified as the world’s 1st county to receive Dark Sky designation. That means there is relatively little light pollution. Combine that with our high elevation and arid climate and have a great recipe for seeing thousands of stars on moonless nights, the arms of the Milky Way Galaxy and so much more.
Wyoming Stargazing is proud to have put in the time and effort to make Teton County the world’s first International Dark Sky Community. Wyoming Stargazing is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The proceeds from our private stargazing programs are used to increase access to STEM education and to promote dark night sky conservation.
Stargazing Tour Tips & Considerations
Biggest Telescopes in Grand Teton
We have a telescope with a big mirror for our stargazing tours in Jackson. That means you’ll get to have the light from galaxies millions of light years away actually hit your eye! Some newer, fancier telescopes can show you colored pictures of deep space objects, but they don’t allow light to actually hit your eye.
Astronomers
Wyoming Stargazing employs knowledgeable and enthusiastic astronomers as our guides. They not only have a huge amount of knowledge of the night sky, but are also very good at explaining the complicated details about what you are looking at.
Avoiding “Hubble Envy”
“Hubble Envy” is the expectation of seeing exquisite, colorful images through our telescopes like those taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Only with 100s of hours of exposure time with sophisticated cameras can astronomers produce the amazing colorful pictures that you see in magazines. One of our Board Members produces those images with his personal observatory. There are also some new telescopes with build in cameras that project colored pictures. Our telescope DON’T do that.
What our telescopes can do is capture enough light from objects thousands to millions of light years away so that you can see those objects. However, because of the immense distances from those objects, they will appear as little white fuzzy spots through the telescope. We think it’s pretty cool to have photons (light particles) from distant galaxies actually hit your eye through the eyepiece of the telescope. Then, after traveling for millions of years, those photos are converted into electrical signals and become part of your brain!
Queremos brindarte esa experiencia. Hemos tomado una decisión consciente de utilizar telescopios que brindan las mejores vistas para una amplia gama de objetos, incluidos planetas, estrellas, cúmulos de estrellas, nebulosas, galaxias y más. Algunos otros telescopios son mejores para algunos de esos objetos, pero nuestros telescopios siguen la línea de ser buenos para proporcionar vistas de todos ellos. Siempre puede llamarnos al 844-996-7827 y conversar sobre el programa antes de registrarse en línea.
Please Trust Us with the Weather
The weather in Jackson during the summer time is more predictable than during the winter. During the summer, we typically get afternoon thunderstorms and cloudy afternoon weather. As the sky begins to get dark and the temperature begins to drop the clouds almost always dissipate, leaving incredibly clear skies for stargazing. Even if it’s still cloudy at 9pm there is a very good chance that by 10pm the skies will be perfectly clear. In the winter, the weather is less predictable. We get about 70% of our annual precipitation in the form of snow. The storms will come in when they will.
Despite a certain level of predictability, there is really no way to know what the weather will be more than a few hours before the start time of your program. We make all weather decisions at 7pm. We’ll make the best determination on whether we should run your program or not based on as much data as possible. We want you to have a great time with us so we won’t send you out there unless we think it’s going to be worth your time and money.
Should the weather forecast appear to interfere with the stargazing segment of the tour, you’ll have the option to reschedule the entire tour, switch your tour to a full wildlife sunset safari, or cancel the stargazing portion of the tour for a 50% refund. Please note you will need to communicate your choice with a notice of at least 48 hours of the scheduled start time.
How the Phases of the Moon Effect Your Tour
También tenga en cuenta que la fase de la luna changes the overall brightness of the night sky on stargazing tours in Jackson. During the week preceding the Full Moon some of the more distant objects that we look at get washed out by the brightness of the Moon. The Moon is amazing to see through the telescope and it’s an amazing experience stargazing under the Full Moon, but you won’t get to see the arms of the Milky Way Galaxy or much detail in deep space objects if your stargazing program occurs five days before the Full Moon and two days after it.
Prepare for Your Program
The heat of the summer days we have here in Jackson can be deceiving – the temperature can drop down to below 40°F at night. ¡Recuerda vestirte abrigado! En el verano debes usar pantalones largos, una chaqueta abrigada, zapatos cerrados con calcetines gruesos y un sombrero. In the winter you should dress like you’re going skiing.
Nuestros grandes telescopios requieren el uso de una escalera para observar. Comuníquese con nosotros si usted o alguien de su grupo no puede usar una escalera para que podamos adaptarnos a sus necesidades específicas.
If you have any special needs, such as ending the program early, we strongly recommend that you book a private stargazing program so that we can accommodate you to the best of our ability.
When to Schedule Your Tour
We encourage you to book your stargazing program at the beginning of your trip. That way, if we need to reschedule because of bad weather, we have a better opportunity to do so.
Política de cancelación y cambio de reserva
The satisfaction of our customers is Wyoming Stargazing’s primary concern. We strive to offer engaging, inspiring, and educational stargazing programs. Wyoming Stargazing will use our telescopes to help our customers see the Cosmos whenever possible. However, sometimes the weather only allows us to engage our customers with the stories about the night sky without getting to see much through the telescopes.
In the event of inclement weather, we do our best to re-book stargazing stargazing tours in Jackson for another night. Please consider booking programs early during a trip so that in the event of a weather issue we have the chance to stargaze another night.
At the time of booking we collect payment in full which includes a 10% nonrefundable deposit for any program that we run regardless of the outcome of the weather on the night of the program. There is no charge if Wyoming Stargazing cancels the program because of weather before the program begins. In the event that the weather prevents us from showing you some or all of the typical objects we show during a program a partial refund of up to 90% of the total cost of the program will be issued. No refunds are issued for the 6% nonrefundable online booking fee if customers booked themselves online. You can avoid this 6% booking fee by booking the program over the phone by calling us at 1-844-WYO-STAR (1-844-996-7827).
If the program is canceled by the customer within 48 hours of the scheduled start time of the program there is no refund. However, we understand that life happens so we’ll always do our best to be reasonable and work with each customer on an individual basis to try to make things right.
If the program is rebooked at the request of the customer Wyoming Stargazing will charge a 5% administration fee in addition to the 10% nonrefundable deposit.
The Astronomy Experts in Jackson Hole
Ready to see Jackson Hole after dark? Join in on our guided stargazing tours in Jackson and experience Wyoming’s legendary night sky with expert insight, powerful telescopes, and carefully chosen viewing locations. Perfect for visitors who want more than just a quick glance upward.
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