In India, Rahu, the demon with the slashed head, flies across the sky and swallows the sun, leading to eclipses. In Nigeria, the Efik people tell of how the Sun once lived on Earth, married to the Moon. Then Water flooded their home, forcing them to flee into the sky, where they remain. Among the indigenous Assiniboine people of North America, the Pleiades star cluster was once a band of seven orphan children. They decided to turn into stars and flee the Earth, finding no other way to end their hardships.

What we have learnt in the centuries since these tales were first told has only intensified our interest. Today, as space agencies from around the world, including the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), reach towards Jupiter, Mars and the Sun, and plan new manned missions to the Moon, a new generation is looking to the skies with renewed excitement.

The one thing we don’t have as much of, as we look up, is darkness. Growing cities, the spread of electricity, and 24×7 advertising have taken light pollution to new parts of the world. Artificial skyglow disrupts life on ocean floors near coastal cities, impacts the migration patterns of birds and marine species. And it is changing how far city-dwellers must travel before they can see the Milky Way with the naked eye.

India, with its rapidly urbanising population of over 1.4 billion is at high risk from light pollution. It is growing even in Hanle, Ladakh, a remote Himalayan region picked because of its clear, dark skies as the site of India’s cutting-edge Indian Astronomical Observatory (which houses India’s first robotic telescope). But here too, says Dorje Angchuk, engineer in charge of the observatory, light pollution, though negligible, is rising.

All of which makes the growing interest in astro-tourism both an opportunity and an immense risk. And growing it is. Uttarakhand, a state of low urban densities and clear, dark skies, plans to create at least one astro-tourism site in each of its 13 districts. In Rajasthan, the government has decided to install high-quality telescopes at sites across at least 33 districts. At Maharashtra’s Ajanta Caves, visitors can attend stargazing sessions conducted by the state tourism development corporation (they’re free for now). In Madhya Pradesh, an astro-park is reportedly on the cards.

Across Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Ladakh, meanwhile, private firms such as Starscapes, Astrostays and Astroport are encouraging tourists to step out and look up, through chains of private observatories, astro-themed hotels and homestay initiatives.

“People living in urban or semi-urban regions almost never notice the night sky, due to light pollution. The first view of a really dark night sky almost always awakens a sense of awe and wonder in the observer. One aim with astro-tourism is to promote that awareness, interest and wonder,” says Niruj Mohan Ramanujam, an astronomer and head of SCOPE, the direct-outreach arm of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

Perhaps people will be encouraged to travel differently wherever they go, alter habits even at back home, he adds. Done right, it can also create a sustainable model for local communities.

The risk is that the rampant development of astro-tourism could do to remote night skies what India’s love of hill-stations has done to towns such as Nainital in Uttarakhand, which is now plagued by traffic, overcrowding and pollution.

There are currently no guidelines for astro-tourism initiatives, at the state or central levels; the sector is governed by the tourism policies of each state. Pooja Garbiyal, Uttarakhand’s additional secretary for tourism, says her state is working to frame specific norms. In order to declutter high-footfall areas such as Nainital, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mussoorie and the Char Dham pilgrim route, “we intend to make this the go-to location for astro-tourism,” Garbiyal adds. “I’ve written to the International Dark-Sky Association [which accredits dark sky reserves] too, to help identify spots in the state as dark-sky reserves.”

India’s first such reserve was finally notified in December. A 1,073-sq-km area around the Hanle observatory in Ladakh, covering six hamlets and part of a wildlife reserve, are now protected. Homestays will host astro-tourists, but blackout curtains will be compulsory, vehicular movement will be restricted at night, bright LED lights replaced, and the use of red-light torches encouraged.

The aim is to protect the observatory’s view, the local ecology and the unusually dark skies here, says Angchuk.

Firm norms will be key as astro-tourism grows, adds Dipankar Banerjee, director of the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), an autonomous institute in Nainital that is currently working with the Uttarakhand government on astro-tourism projects in Benital, Mukteshwar and Takula. “You can’t have tourists or facilitators driving around at night, or lighting bonfires. An astro-tourism site cannot be just another holiday destination. It has to be dedicated to astronomy, dark sky and nature.”

As the balancing act begins, take a look at some of the astro-tourism initiatives unfolding across India.

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Starscapes: New level unlocked

Telecom executive Ramashish Ray noticed that almost every guest at his AirBnB was riveted by the scope in his backyard. Even those who didn’t have an interest in astronomy — they didn’t want the stars or constellations pointed out to them — wanted some time with it, just to look up at the Moon or try to spot a few planets.

Ray, 50, launched his first private observatory in Kausani in 2017. In 2019, Paul Savio, 36, a former colleague and fellow astro-enthusiast, joined him. The company was registered in 2021. They now have observatories in Uttarakhand’s Bhimtal and Mukteshwar too; a mobile observatory in Ooty, Tamil Nadu; and a fifth property in the works in Coorg, Karnataka. Each houses at least one motorised Celestron telescope (8” or 11”) and a few manual Dobsonian 8” telescopes, along with planetary cameras, astrophotography mounts, and DSLR cameras.

For decades, astronomy buffs have been heading to Ladakh to marvel at the night skies, Savio says. But this takes extensive research and investment. The alternative is to head to planetariums, where you end up seeing a recording of the sky. Observatories associated with universities and scientific research institutes are typically not open to the public. “We want to open up the world of astronomy to everyone.”

Accordingly, tourists and locals and anyone with some time on their hands can walk into one of the Starscapes properties and pay ₹500 to ₹1,000 for a guided tour of 45 minutes to an hour.

The sites have been carefully picked for both dark skies and proximity to tourist hubs. Ooty and Coorg are tourist hotspots. Bhimtal, Kausani and Mukteshwar are two to four hours from Nainital and are on most tourist itineraries, for their trekking trails and views of the Himalayas.

The observatories offer morning tours where visitors can explore the surface of the Sun; in the evenings, views of Venus, craters on the Moon and the Orion nebula tend to be among the most popular. There are also sessions for adults and children, on subjects such as astro-photography and rocket-making. To extend its reach, Starscapes leads astronomical experiences at the St Regis hotel in Cavelossim, Goa, and at Club Mahindra resorts in Goa, Puducherry, Munnar and Coorg.

The guides and facilitators are trained to conduct sessions as storytellers, not teachers. “It’s entirely possible that someone in the audience might know something that the guide doesn’t and that’s okay,” Savio says.

What’s driving this segment, Savio says, is a generation of young, well-travelled people looking for new experiences. “But as you develop astro-tourism in a great location, more people are going to show up. You’ll have more Maggi and tea stalls; more light pollution, and eventually the place dies out as a dark-sky haven.”

Starscapes works to sensitise locals and tourists to the dangers of light pollution. More dark-sky spaces — reserves, parks, sanctuaries and zones — are the real answer, Savio adds. “Then standards can be enforced for lighting, access and ecological impact, and the entire ecosystem can be protected.”

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Astroport: Stars and stripes in Sariska

Her folk tales about the sun, moon and stars sparked an early interest in astronomy. It helped that a family friend, Sachin Bahmba, 49, was founder of Space India, an educational initiative set up in 2004 to demystify astronomy, space and astrophysics for school and college students.

After a childhood spent looking up at the skies, Nathawat began a career as a software engineer with Oracle and Capgemini. Travelling around India for work and leisure, he missed his hobby, and often wished that hotels would offer at least a simple telescope.

When he quit his corporate career in 2013, to strike out on his own, Bahmba and he decided that could be their enterprise: a chain of hotels that combined astronomy and hospitality. They launched their first property in 2017.

Tucked into the Aravalli mountains in Rajasthan, 10 minutes from the Sariska Tiger Reserve, the resort offers guided astronomy experiences that involve stargazing, deep-sky-object-hunting (nebulae, etc) and solar observation; and wildlife tours within the reserve.

With 19 rooms and two-dormitories, the property can house up to 60 guests at a time, with rates starting at ₹3,000 per head. The aim is to foster fascination but also spread word about how precious a dark sky is, Nathawat says.

The sky above Sariska National Park is a Class 4 space (implying that it’s a rural/suburban transition sky with impressive views of the Milky Way, but lacks clarity) on the global Bortle Scale index. There are no large towns nearby, so light pollution is relatively low.

At the Astroport hotel, only red-light torches are allowed after sundown. Low-wattage lamps light up the campus just enough to illuminate pathways. Trees along the boundaries keep this light from filtering beyond. This minimises impact on nocturnal species and species with dark-adapted vision too.

Similar hotels are expected to open by the end of the year, in Jaisalmer and Bundi in Rajasthan. The response has been heartening, Nathawat says. Among the young families who have stayed at Astroport are science teacher Akshadeep Gupta, 27, his wife Nitu Gupta, an HR executive, and their daughter Riya, 8, from Faridabad in Haryana. After a trip to Ladakh with a pair of binoculars, Akshadeep heard about Astroport from a friend and the family decided to drive there.

“In our 45 minutes with the telescope, I realised how magnificent space is, how insignificant our lives are. It was quite grounding,” he says. “The sessions are designed to engage kids. We were all learning together.” Nitu adds that she enjoyed the astronomy, “but I’m not heavily into it. I enjoyed the way they have structured the place, to display different sides of nature.”

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Astrostays: When women comet to the cause

Once the sun sets, a new show begins. With its sparse population and cold, dry climate through most of the year, Ladakh is a largely cloud free dark-sky haven. Astrostays, founded by former electrical engineer Sonal Asgotraa in 2019, is working with local residents to capitalise on these skies.

Five homestays are currently operational at Maan, with prices starting at ₹2,500 a night. Stargazing sessions are priced separately, at ₹500 per head for an hour with a telescope.

The five owners of the homestays (three women and two men) have also trained as astro-guides. “For the training, we borrowed knowledge from their elders too,” says Asgotraa, 36. “Sessions combine astronomy with cultural lore associated with the sun, moon and stars.”

Conscious of the danger of light pollution, blackout curtains are essential at all outfits; outdoor lights are shaded. Red-light torches are used by staff members and offered to tourists.

Asgotraa, who grew up in Faridkot, Punjab, was about 11 when NASA astronaut Kalpana Chawla became the first woman of Indian origin to travel into space. She grew up dreaming of travelling into space too. Now, the telescope is how she does it.

Two things helped her get her astro-enterprise off the ground. Her husband, Paras Loomba, set up and heads Global Himalayan Expedition, a social enterprise that works to promote sustainable grassroots tourism and access to clean energy and education in Ladakh, and he was able to guide her. Then she heard about an open call that the non-profit organisation International Astronomical Union put out, offering grants to initiatives that were working to leverage science and astronomy to create social impact. “I applied and got my first funding in 2019,” she says.

After a dip in the pandemic, business is picking up again, and Asgotraa is planning a second cluster of homestays, in Nubra.

Last year, they also opened an immersive museum and cultural centre run by five women in Phyang village. At CosmoHub, posters display information on astronomy and Buddhist cosmology, an AV screen showcases footage of the skies, and an open space houses a telescope that visitors can use to scan the skies, under the guidance of facilitators.

“At first, it was hard to imagine that tourists would come to see the stars and the sky, or that we could earn a livelihood out of this,” says Tashi Dolker, 36, a local schoolteacher who helps run CosmoHub. She’s still amazed at all that one can see through the museum’s 10-inch Dobsonian telescope, she says, and loves to watch the joy it brings to tourists. “Before this, we didn’t have much to do after sundown. Now, we meet new people, learn so much, and earn. I hope more women in Ladakh are someday able to do this too.”

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Hanle: Finally, a dark-sky reserve

It’s why the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) picked this as the site for the country’s highest-altitude observatory, the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO; also called the Hanle observatory). Incidentally, this is one of the highest-altitude observatories in the world, and houses India’s first robotic telescope.

IAO is now working with local residents, the government of the Union Territory of Ladakh, and the International Dark-Sky Association (IDSA) to protect these unusually clear, dark skies. A 1,073-sq-km zone containing six hamlets and IAO, all of which sits within the Changthang wildlife sanctuary, was notified as a dark-sky reserve by the wildlife department of Ladakh in December. The next step will be to apply for formal accreditation from IDSA, a global non-profit that certifies such reserves.

Accreditation can take up to three years; there were, as of January, only 201 certified dark-sky reserves in the world. What does it mean to adopt this tag? Maintaining such a reserve involves a three-pronged approach that hinges on conservation (of dark skies and habitats; this includes a comprehensive lighting management plan), education (of locals and tourists), and a shift to more sustainable local economies, especially in industries such as hospitality and tourism.

There are observatories around the world protected by dark-sky reserves; many others have been forced to shut down because of light pollution, says Dorje Angchuk, engineer in charge of the Hanle observatory. “We are situated under one of the darkest skies in India. But even here, over the years, we have seen more light coming from nearby villages. Although that increase is negligible, light pollution is unfortunately proportional to development. So we felt that we should act to preserve the sanctity of the sky — for astronomical studies, for tourists, and to preserve the local ecology.”

Since December, a team led by Angchuk has been holding sessions for locals and defence personnel posted here, on light management and the effects of light pollution on wildlife. Eventually, a committee made up of locals, administration representatives and scientists will be set up to enforce the rules on the ground.

Meanwhile, homestays in the six hamlets are all set to open to tourists in April. Twenty-four volunteers from the region have been trained to operate telescopes to show visitors around; 18 eight-inch Sky-Watcher Dobsonian GoTo telescopes have been distributed among them too. A lot of tourists stop by on trips to the region, thinking they can access the telesscope; this isn’t possible, Angchuk says. Now, when they arrive, they can be redirected to the trained astro-guides in the villages.

All homestays will feature double-layered blackout curtains and lighting activated by motion sensors, among other measures. “At IAO, we have been following these norms already,” Angchuk says.

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Maharashtra: Zooming out from Ajanta

Now, visitors to the Unesco world heritage site can return after sundown, for a very different experience.

Since January 2023, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has been hosting free stargazing sessions here.

“The site is where the caves were first rediscovered by Madras Presidency officer John Smith in 1819,” says MTDC general manager Chandrashekhar Jaiswal. “We chose it because there is no habitation and no artificial light.”

“We have not started charging people yet. We’ll be doing so soon. We plan to add at least two more telescopes and have school children over too, to explore the sky,” Jaiswal says.

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Look up! Five things to watch out for in 2023

Venus: Also misnamed “the morning star” and “the evening star”, because it is the brightest point in the sky after the Sun and Moon, Venus can be spotted just above the western horizon until June, shining brilliantly once the sun sets. Astronomer Arvind Paranjpye, director of the Nehru planetarium in Mumbai, urges skywatchers to use even a basic telescope to track the crescent phases of this planet. “On April 11, Venus will also appear south of the Pleiades star cluster, and much closer to it than usual. This should be a beautiful sight and make for a unique view,” Paranjpye says.

Lyrids: One of the oldest meteor showers — its first recorded sighting dates to Chinese records from 687 BCE — the Lyrids make a dazzling appearance in the night sky, for about two weeks each year. Originating from Comet Thatcher, the shower is expected to peak on April 22 this year. Since it will occur during a new moon phase, when the sky is particularly dark, expect a better glimpse of the luminous trails.

Perseids: Debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet comes together each year, typically in August, to form the Perseids meteor shower. It is one of the most dramatic showers to watch. Up to 50 meteors are visible per hour, from about 1 am until dawn; most can be seen with the naked eye, on a clear night. Look out for the peak on August 12 this year, says Paranjpye. Given that it will be mid-monsoon, hope for clear skies.

Geminids: Wrap up the year on a bright note. The Geminid is a rare meteor shower that originates not from a comet but from an asteroid, 3200 Phaethon. Geminids usually show at the rate of up to 150 meteors per hour. On December 14 and 15, with no moon in the sky, the view is likely to be brightest, with a chance of spotting two meteors a minute, Paranjpye says.