Dote Upon Death Valley's Dark Skies and Dazzling Starscape

FINDING THE ACREAGE... of a favorite national park? You only need a few keystrokes to arrive at the information you're seeking. But how do you approach an iconic expanse that has its known terrestrial acreage but also a considerable claim on the sky? Measuring the acres of space that seem almost "attached" to Death Valley would be a challenging task, and including the cosmos in the national park's size would be an act of fanciful folly. Yet can a person truly separate the spirit of space from one of our planet's must lunar-like locations? We wouldn't even make such an attempt. And it is just this enduring connection that is celebrated each winter when the Death Valley Dark Sky Festival returns with a tussle of telescopes, and telescope-knowing pros, in terrific tow.

THE LOOK-UP LARK... will take place over three days in 2023, beginning on Feb. 10. Past parties have included in-depth talks, astrophotography meetups, family-centered happenings, and, of course, plenty of remarkable opportunities to gaze through a bevy of powerful lenses at the great pinpricked bowl above us. The full schedule will soon be available, but best move quickly if you'd like to stay in the national park or nearby: Rooms can and do fill up. There are several notable partners making this celestial celebration possible, including NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Find the full list of participants here, as well as intriguing examples of past events. The question that remains is this: Should the vastness of space be included when measuring the square footage of Death Valley, since space, and all of its wonders, seems to be a natural part of the national park? It is the largest national park in the contiguous United States, true, but adding the universe to its acreage might make Death Valley, well... quite a bit larger.