Stargazing in Utah the darkest state

Jamie Carter marvels at the night sky above Utah, a state packed with internationally-recognised dark-sky sites, iconic astrophoto locations and a long history of indigenous astronomy

- Jamie Carter

The Sun had set by the time we pulled into a parking lot just outside Moab, Utah. This is where we agreed to meet our host for an evening under the sky and, sure enough, we arrive to find a convoy of four cars waiting for us. At the front was a large station wagon with decals on it that gave away the subject of this night-time expedition: "Have telescopes, will travel!"

We followed the convoy along lonely roads before parking in La Sal Mountains Viewpoint in eastern Utah's canyonlands. The station wagon was already there. It belonged to our host, Alex Ludwig at RedRock Astronomy, who was already unloading collapsible chairs and parts of the mount for a 9.25-inch refractor.

"Let's set up by this bush - it will help reduce the wind," says Ludwig as we construct a crescent of chairs around the telescope. But I can't take my eyes off something twinkling due west across the fast-fading red rock landscape: it's Mercury - a planet I've seen only a handful of times shining brightly, barely a degree above the horizon. Above it is bright Venus and the Pleiades, Aldebaran and the stars of Orion. But there's something strange about them. They're not twinkling. They glow. We're on high ground here, about a mile up, and it shows. Utah can take your breath away in more ways than one.

Out into star country

Aside from Utah having the highest concentration of certified International Dark Sky places in the world - there are 24 spread across the state - Utah's high elevation and resulting thin air is a major reason why it's a dream dark-sky destination. The state occupies a large part of the Colorado Plateau, a high desert zone that centres on the Four Corners region of the southwestern US: Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.