Tour the Universe through our BIG telescopes!
Have a Bryce Night!
Everybody wishes you a "Nice Day." but we want you to have a "Bryce Night!" -- the best possible nights for stargazing. If your travel dates are flexible, check our list for the Bryce-ist of nights. Then come back to this page to book your telescope tour.
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The Astronomy You Prefer
Within the ranks of the Dark Rangers®, there is enough knowledge to give you an entertaining show on almost any astronomy subject. After booking your tour below, you'll be invited to request your show preference by title in a follow-up questionnaire.
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Yes, reservations are required.
That way we will know how many telescopes to setup.
That way we will know how many telescopes to setup.
SUMMER AND WINTER PUBLIC TELESCOPE TOURS
Pick your season. Summer nights are the least cold and offer a greater variety of deep-space objects. Winter nights are especially frigid, but cold air is also the most transparent, resulting in stunningly bright stars. Moonless nights during December thru March ALSO offer the rare view of the Orion Spur, the closest but dimmer arm of the Milky Way -- a subtle but sublime sight few humans ever have, or ever will ever see, with their own eyes.
Scroll to the bottom of the page for our pricing and cancellation policy.
Scroll to the bottom of the page for our pricing and cancellation policy.
Summer Telescope Tour (May - October)
These public Summer Telescope Tours are offered nightly at the Dark Ranger Observatory (adjacent to, but NOT inside Bryce Canyon National Park).
The only "hard" time is the start time. Would you prefer 1 or more Dark Rangers to yourselves? Book a private telescope tour any night of the year. |
Summer sky is dominated by the Milky Way, which extends to the horizons on moonless nights. The best views of the galactic arm are not through telescopes, but from a Zero-gravity lounger. Our BIG telescopes show colorful close-ups of the planets and deep space objects way beyond human vision: distant galaxies, exploded stars, star-birth nebulae, and star clusters.
Nightly Tour Format (2-3 hours):
DRESS WARMLY, so you don't get tired or bored early!
Summer Public Telescope Tour (May - Oct.)
No green "book now" button? Try a different device?
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Winter Telescope Tour (November - April)
2-hour Winter Telescope Tours are offered at the Dark Ranger Observatory (adjacent to, but NOT within Bryce Canyon) on Tuesday through Saturday (plus some holiday Sundays & Mondays). Then every night after 2nd Sunday in March (DST).
These are maximum durations. The only "hard" time is the start time. Need a Monday or Sunday night (Nov-Feb)? EVERY winter night can be booked as a Small Private Telescope Tour. |
Cold air is best for telescopes, but it's challenging for humans. Our winter nighttime temperatures can be 25°
to -10°F (-4° to -24°C). DRESS VERY WARMLY! Unless you are a Yeti or a Wampa you will need: - Multiple layers of clothing including a ski hat - Snow boots or hiking boots with toe-warmers - Ski gloves or winter gloves with hand-warmers Nightly Tour Format (1-2 hours):
Winter Public Telescope Tour (Nov - April)
No green "book now" button? Try a different device?
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Dark Ranger LATE NIGHT (Year-Round)
Late Night Tours are offered at the Dark Ranger Observatory (adjacent to, but not within Bryce Canyon) year-round, except during the 12 days each month when a bright Moon hampers Milky Way viewing.
Late Night Start Times: October - March: 12:00 am (midnight) April - September 1:00 am Hey!
Don't book the wrong "day"! 'Cuz on this planet, the date begins AFTER midnight. Booking a Tuesday means you will be attending after Midnight on Monday.
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A later start avoids our Moon, so these special telescope tours offer more meteors and more Milky Way, as well as the best possible views of everything else!
Late Night tours are usually shorter because your Dark Ranger skips their multimedia show and you spend the whole time at our BIG telescopes (1 per 2-4 guests). By capping at 12 attendees you'll get EVEN more time viewing and less time queueing. AND when you book late nights, zero-gravity chairs are FREE!. DRESS VERY WARMLY! Late Night means EXTRA cold! Late Night Tour Format: 60-90 minutes: (if you make your Dark Ranger stay later you had better be a GOOD tipper!)
No green "book now" button? Try a different device?
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Click here to purchase $1/Ticket Backup Night Booking
4-ticket Minimum (NOT per booking, Just per night/tour):
All our Public Telescope Tours have a 4-ticket minimum which must be met before each type of telescope tour to commences BAD READERS: This does NOT mean 4 tickets from your group, just 4 tickets in total including other groups also attending the same public telescope tour.
Because we are the #1 rated telescope experience on Earth (TripAdvisor link in footer below) this is seldom an issue except for in January, February, or nights with a full Moon.
That Scenario: Imagine you have booked 2 tickets. If by 6pm the night of your intended tour nobody else has booked 2 or more tickets, you'll be invited (via text and email) to authorize us to charge your credit card for 2 more "imaginary friends" tickets, so that tour can go on. Realize this amounts to you getting a private telescope tour but for public tour prices! Otherwise the tour will be cancelled and your credit card fully refunded.
Are you a "The show must go on!" kind of person? Perhaps you prefer certainty? If you notice you are the first to book a less popular night, you can purchase the necessary amount of imaginary friends tickets in advance. If, later, another booker helps you reach our 4-ticket minimum, your unnecessary imaginary friends tickets will be fully refunded.
We might wait until start time to refund your imaginary friends, in case rare "no-show" people complicate things.
Because we are the #1 rated telescope experience on Earth (TripAdvisor link in footer below) this is seldom an issue except for in January, February, or nights with a full Moon.
That Scenario: Imagine you have booked 2 tickets. If by 6pm the night of your intended tour nobody else has booked 2 or more tickets, you'll be invited (via text and email) to authorize us to charge your credit card for 2 more "imaginary friends" tickets, so that tour can go on. Realize this amounts to you getting a private telescope tour but for public tour prices! Otherwise the tour will be cancelled and your credit card fully refunded.
Are you a "The show must go on!" kind of person? Perhaps you prefer certainty? If you notice you are the first to book a less popular night, you can purchase the necessary amount of imaginary friends tickets in advance. If, later, another booker helps you reach our 4-ticket minimum, your unnecessary imaginary friends tickets will be fully refunded.
We might wait until start time to refund your imaginary friends, in case rare "no-show" people complicate things.
The night I want is already full! Is there a waiting list?
Bummer. And yes, we do keep a waiting list for public telescope tours and Small Private Telescope Tours.
Here's how you get on the waiting list:
1. Return to booking system (pages with white background instead of grey) by clicking a "book now" button above.
2. Click on the "full/not offered" night you want.
3. Confirm the start time (a little bubble pops up under the calendar).
4. Enter your contact info.
5. Hope for good luck, without wishing misfortune upon others who might have to cancel.
If spots open up we will contact wait-listed folks in the order they joined the list. If you later realize you no longer want to be on the wait list, please reply to your wait list confirmation email with at least these 2 words "please cancel."
Did you notice we call this a "waiting list" and not a "We are just trying to decide if this is something we REALLY wanna actually do... er something...? List" (it's funnier if you re-read that with your best So Cal, Kardashian, baby-talk voice). If you are not sure what the difference implies, you might be part of the problem that explains why so few businesses, including restaurants, keep a waiting list anymore. If you forget to cancel and we can squeeze you in, we will STILL invoice you, if you are next on the waiting list! Can you imagine how getting that sorted will take up more of your precious time than sending a 3-word text/email reply like "Our plans changed."?
Here's how you get on the waiting list:
1. Return to booking system (pages with white background instead of grey) by clicking a "book now" button above.
2. Click on the "full/not offered" night you want.
3. Confirm the start time (a little bubble pops up under the calendar).
4. Enter your contact info.
5. Hope for good luck, without wishing misfortune upon others who might have to cancel.
If spots open up we will contact wait-listed folks in the order they joined the list. If you later realize you no longer want to be on the wait list, please reply to your wait list confirmation email with at least these 2 words "please cancel."
Did you notice we call this a "waiting list" and not a "We are just trying to decide if this is something we REALLY wanna actually do... er something...? List" (it's funnier if you re-read that with your best So Cal, Kardashian, baby-talk voice). If you are not sure what the difference implies, you might be part of the problem that explains why so few businesses, including restaurants, keep a waiting list anymore. If you forget to cancel and we can squeeze you in, we will STILL invoice you, if you are next on the waiting list! Can you imagine how getting that sorted will take up more of your precious time than sending a 3-word text/email reply like "Our plans changed."?
The wait list is full! Does your wait list have a wait list?
Really?! And no, sorry. Our wait list does NOT have a wait list. We are not that popular... yet.
Public Tour Ticket Prices
NOTE: Pricing includes Utah sales tax (7.35%), 3% + $1.90 booking fee, and 3% credit card transaction fee.
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Public Tour Cancellation Policy
To cancel, contact us by sending an email or text message.
Because financial institutions are allowed to do volume-based pricing, they put small businesses at a disadvantage. Credit Card companies charge us 3% and our booking service another 3%. Then to cover their expenses, the booking service charges us another $1.90 per booking. This means we only get ~92% of the money you see on your bank statement.
If booking cancellation request is made (text or email is preferred) more than 48 hours in advance, 92% is refunded. Obviously, we can't refund more money than we receive, so a 92% refund is where we barely break even. If notification of cancellation is sent between 48 and 4 hours prior to start time, 50% is refunded. With that short of notice, we are lucky if we can rebook 50% of cancelled seats. Rescheduling or value-locked store credit is always an option, but there can be no same-night refunds (<4hrs notice) except according to our cloudy night refund policy. |
