Private Stargazing Tours

PRICE:

1-2 People: $625
3-13 People: $250 per person
(Gratuity not included: 10-20% recommended)

DURATION:

2.5 - 4 hours (depending on location)

ABOUT:

Wyoming Stargazing offers year-round Private Stargazing Tours at your convenience. Let us come to your private residence or bring you to one of the premier stargazing locations in Grand Teton National Park. We’ll set up one of our large telescopes (bigger than all the other guys!) and entertain you and your guests by showing you all that the fantastic night skies of Jackson Hole have to offer! Throughout the night we’ll show you planets, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and more. We’ll also have iPads ready with the Star Walk application so you can continue exploring the heavens while your friends and family are entranced through the telescopes. Compared to the often well-attended public stargazing programs and larger Group Stargazing Programs, Private Stargazing Tours give you the most individualized attention from our enthusiastic astronomers, allowing you to finally get answers to all of the questions you’ve ever had about the Universe. There will be little-to-no wait time to look through our telescopes, which means that during the evening we’ll be able to show you even more of the extraordinary objects in the sparkling night sky!

MOON PHASE TIPS:

Please keep in mind that the current phase of the Moon changes the overall brightness of the night sky. During the week preceding the Full Moon, some of the more distant objects that we look at get washed out by the brightness of the Moon. The Moon is amazing to see through the telescope, and it’s an amazing experience stargazing under the Full Moon, but you won’t get to see the arms of the Milky Way Galaxy or much detail in deep space objects if your stargazing program occurs five days before the Full Moon and two days after it.

ITINERARY:

Generally, Private Stargazing Tours last 3-4 hours from pickup to drop off. Below is a typical program itinerary:

• Hotel pick-ups take place from 7:30pm-9:30pm (depending on the season and the number of pick-ups that evening). We'll contact you with specific times the day of your program.
• 30-45 minute drive to a dark location inside Grand Teton National Park
• Explore the sky with the StarWalk app on an iPads while we set up the telescope
• View incredible deep space objects through the telescope for about 2 hours
• Warm up in the van while we pack everything up
• 30-45 minute drive back to your hotel

PRIVATE STARGAZING TOURS INCLUDE:

• Free admission for children 6 and under
• Hotel pick-up and drop-off
• The most time possible looking through our telescopes
• The greatest opportunity to see additional deep space objects
• The most individualized attention from our astronomers
• Use of the Star Walk app on each iPad
• Camping chairs to sit back and enjoy the night sky
• Blankets to keep you warm

AVOIDING "HUBBLE ENVY":

“Hubble Envy” is the expectation of seeing exquisite, colorful images through our telescopes like those taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Only with 100s of hours of exposure time with sophisticated cameras can astronomers produce the amazing colorful pictures that you see in magazines. One of our Board Members produces those images with his personal observatory. Our telescopes DON’T do that.

What our telescopes can do is capture enough light from objects thousands to millions of light years away so that you can see those objects. However, because of the immense distances from those objects, they will appear as little white fuzzy spots through the telescope. We think it’s pretty cool to have photons (light particles) from distant galaxies actually hit your eye through the eyepiece of the telescope. Then, after traveling for millions of years, those photons are converted into electrical signals and become part of your brain!

We want to give you that experience. We have made a conscious choice to use telescopes that provide the best views for a wide array of objects, including planets, stars, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, and more. Some other telescopes are better for some of those objects, but our telescopes toe the line on providing views of all of them. You are always welcome to call us at 844-996-7827 and chat about the program before signing up online.

WEATHER CONSIDERATIONS AND CANCELLATIONS:

In the event of cloudy, rainy, or snowy weather, Wyoming Stargazing will decide by 7 p.m. on the day of the tour to either cancel the stargazing tour or to rebook it if possible. Please consider booking your tour early in your trip so that in the event of a weather issue you have the chance to stargaze another night! If we have to cancel your tour because of bad weather, there is no charge, except for the 6% online booking fee if you made your reservation online. Wyoming Stargazing WILL NOT charge anything if we decide to cancel because of bad weather (except for the 6% nonrefundable online booking fee if you booked yourself online). Wyoming Stargazing WILL charge the full amount of the program if the customer decides to cancel or rebook for any reason, except for emergencies, within 48 hours of the scheduled start time of the program. Wyoming Stargazing WILL charge a 5% administration fee if the customer decides to cancel or rebook for any reason, except for emergencies, after booking the program.

BASE FEE:

Although we only charge $250/person for Private Stargazing Tours, our base price is $625 for up to 2 people. We don't want you to miss out on this amazing opportunity, so we're always happy to run the program for just one person as long as you are willing to cover our base price of $625.