Dark Ranger Telescope Tours

10/18/2026

Sara Seager changed our understanding of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Here is a taste:

Aliens are out there. But where exactly?Discover the science behin...

09/07/2026

Tonight won't just be another beautiful night for astronomy and stargazing at the Dark Ranger Observatory, it will also be a VERY exciting night for seeing life in space (okay life in Low Earth Orbit anyway). 😂

First we will see a bright pass of the Chinese Space Station at 9:14pm. Then we will see the International Space Station at 9:38pm.

Book your telescope tour tickets here:
https://www.darkrangertelescopetours.com/public.html

Read the photo captions if you want to know more about both these amazing orbital constructions than anybody else you know, knows.

08/24/2026

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE (almost)

Join the Dark Rangers® this Thursday (August 27) for near-total (95%) Lunar Eclipse. Maximum extent doesn't happen until 10:15pm, but by starting at 8:45pm the fun begins with some of our BIG telescopes providing close-up (and VERY close-up, 400x!) views of the eclipse's progression while it's rising in the east. Aim your phone camera through our telescopes to image the Lunar surface in 3D relief as the blood-red shadow climbs over mountains and crawls through craters.

At the same time, our other BIG telescopes will be showing high-powered views of Venus before it sets in the west. After that and while our Moon remains mostly dark until 11:15pm, we will point our telescopes at a variety of galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. If you stay until midnight when the Moon returns to full brightness, we will show you breathtaking views of Saturn, its impressive ring system and many of its moons, as the grand finale.

Lunar Eclipses are the Dark Rangers'® favorite nights because we get to show you everything! Normal full Moon nights are challenging stargazing because it's hard to see anything besides the Moon (especially if unlike us, you only have small telescopes). But during a lunar eclipse, especially with our BIG telescopes, we can show you as much as we could on a new Moon night!

WARNING: If you miss this Lunar eclipse you will have to wait until June 25, 2029 to see the next one over North America.

Book Now! Book Here:
https://www.darkrangertelescopetours.com/public.html

08/03/2026

Will we see it? Probably not. Are we going to try? Absolutely! With everything we have: BIG telescope equipped with live feed HD planetary cameras, and the experience from countless "captures" of once-in-a-lifetime astrophotography moments.

At 12:37 am on August 5 (after midnight of Aug. 4) the 5-ton empty upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket will impact our lunar surface near Einstein A Crater at 5400 miles an hour. This will create a tiny crater, about the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Something only satellites currently orbiting the Moon will be able to photograph after the fact. However, what might be visible live thanks to the Dark Rangers (R) largest telescopes is the debris cloud; if it rises high enough about the limb (illuminated edge of our Moon) to stand out against the black of space.

Conservative estimates predict the plume of ejecta will only rise 2 miles above the lunar surface. However, the most optimistic estimates say the cloud could become 18 miles high! If so, we will definitely see that! Indeed our calculations suggest that even just a 6-mile tall plume will be detectable.

Why is this crash happening? Did SpaceX forget to install Full Self Driving in this rocket? Don't Falcon 9s usually land perfectly?

All good questions!

Falcon 9 boosters almost always land perfectly back here on Earth. However the upper stages of these fully autonomous rockets are not designed to land anywhere but instead they either burn up upon reentry back thru Earth's atmosphere or crash land into our Moon for which this Falcon 9 upper stage will be the first.

This vehicle's more important, but mostly forgotten "first" was how it sent Firefly's Blue Ghost 1 to become the first successful landing of a commercial craft on the lunar surface.

Follow this link to learn more about that amazing lander's accomplishments:
https://fireflyspace.com/missions/blue-ghost-mission-1/

Learn more about the impact here:
https://www.projectpluto.com/25010d.htm

And as always, so that you can join us for this amazing grand finale to Tuesday night's Dark Ranger Telescope Tour, book your tickets here:
https://www.darkrangertelescopetours.com/public.html

07/28/2026

Tonight will be a beautiful night for stargazing! Who else is going to join us Dark Rangers?

9:45pm start time (15-minute weather delay to let the sky finish clearing).

Book here:
https://www.darkrangertelescopetours.com/public.html

Don't even worry about the bright Moon! When your telescopes are as big as ours, you can still get close views of galaxies and nebulae, even on full Moon nights.

07/22/2026

What an incredible privilege to help celebrate the Badlands 2026 AstroFest as the park marked its exciting new designation as a Dark Sky Park!

Our Dark Rangers traveled more than 1,000 miles for the opportunity to share the wonders of the night sky with thousands of visitors while promoting the importance of protecting our dark skies. This is an effort that reaches far beyond one park and benefits communities around the world, something that we at Dark Ranger are constantly striving towards.

This experience gave us the chance to grow as educators and advocates, and we're deeply grateful to the amazing Badlands rangers for their warm hospitality, support, and dedication to making AstroFest such a memorable event for not only the participants.

Thank you for having us; we can't wait to see everyone again next year!

07/15/2026

☁️ Clouds? We’ve got this.

As Dark Rangers, we don’t let a little weather stand between you and the universe. Our team is highly trained to read the sky, adapt to changing conditions, and know exactly where to look, even when the forecast isn’t perfect.

Clouds can often add some texture to a night, and with the right expertise (and a little patience!), we can still reveal stunning celestial objects and capture breathtaking portraits like this one, taken just last night at the Dark Ranger Observatory.

The sky is always putting on a show, and luckily us Dark Rangers always know how to find it! ✨🔭

07/12/2026

Every night, the sky tells a different story, and at 1:00 AM, you'll see a side of it that most people never experience. ✨🌌

Dark Ranger Late Night is your chance to explore the deepest hours of the night sky, when some of the most spectacular celestial phenomena are at their best. Catch the breathtaking rings of Saturn, the full sweep of the Milky Way stretching overhead, and countless other stunning objects that aren't visible during our earlier tours.

Ready to experience the universe after midnight? Book your Late Night tour at darkrangertelescopetours.com. 🔭

07/04/2026

There may be fireworks restrictions in Utah, but there's no ban on NGC 6946—the Fireworks Galaxy! ✨

Pictured here alongside our sky's natural fireworks is the breathtaking Eagle Nebula, a reminder that the greatest light show is often the one you can see every night. Both of these pictures were taken right here at our observatory!

Join us this July at The Dark Ranger Observatory to experience these incredible deep-space phenomena and so much more under some of the darkest skies in the country.

Book your tour today at darkrangertelescopetours.com.

06/27/2026

Thank you for an amazing June, from our galaxy to yours ✨

This Milky Way image was captured right here at the Dark Ranger Observatory in Bryce Canyon this June- just as our guests experienced it.

Want your own stunning night sky photos? Add astrophotography to your private tour, and don’t forget to request a Portrait Under the Stars for a breathtaking family or couples photo beneath the Milky Way.

Book your private experience at darkrangertelescopetours.com 🌌