WILD-SKY WEDNESDAY / FAR-OUT-FRIDAY

Wed/Fri in summer only: Our most complete evening of cosmic discovery!

• award-winning** ‘weather-proof’ evening program (runs whether it’s clear or cloudy)
• world-exclusive LIVE interactive planetarium dome experience
• evening telescope experience
• ‘laser-guided’ binocular experience at a nearby dark sky site
• FREE 2-year rain-check (skies not clear? come on back at no-additional-charge!)

In addition to being the world’s largest, easily-accessible dark sky preserve, Jasper is also one of the smallest towns in North America with its own planetarium.

WHAT’S INCLUDED…

Enjoy an entertaining, fun-filled evening of cosmic discovery! This full program includes three cosmic experiences: 1) our Planetarium Experience, 2) Telescope Experience, PLUS 3) our ‘laser-guided’ dark sky binocular tour.

1) Planetarium Experience — indoors
A virtual guided tour in our domed theatre with a LIVE local astronomy guide:

• Explore local First Nations constellations
• See recent Northern Lights displays in Jasper
• Watch the Milky Way soar overhead
• Journey into space for a view of Jasper Dark Sky Preserve from hundreds of km above, right to the edge of the universe! (And back)
• Includes time for a Q&A with our staff.

Duration of Planetarium Experience: 30-40 minutes.

2) Telescope Experience*** — outdoors, dress warmly
Join us outside the planetarium for…

• choose from evening (stars, etc…) or early-evening times (filtered solar viewing, planets, etc..)
• an interactive guided tour of the largest, most powerful telescopes in the Rockies and how they work
• a look at the latest 4K ‘instant-replays’ of live views as seen through our telescopes in Jasper.
• a look at how to photograph the Northern Lights and Milky Way with your DSLR camera (if of-interest)
• hands-on experiences: make an aurora, hold a meteorite!
  (NEW touch our new Moon rock & Mars rock!)
• 

  the Whirlpool Galaxy ‘eating’ a smaller galaxy, as seen LIVE through one of our telescopes

  also, if the skies are clear enough, we will offer LIVE guided viewing through our telescopes*** next to the planetarium.

Duration of Telescope Experience: 60-90 minutes.

*** For health and safety reasons, while we have added back the opportunity to look directly through the eyepiece of optical telescopes, many of our telescope experience is still ‘touchless’, using video-based telescopes as our primary observing tool (so guests never have to put their face up to a telescope eyepiece – instead, live telescope views will appear on 4K TV screens, which provide the brightest, most colourful views of space possible PLUS no waiting in line for telescope views – Many people can view at the same time!) We now also have a number of optical telescopes for viewing as well.
In cases where binoculars are available, we will disinfect them after each use by an individual travel party.
For hands-on activities, disposable plastic gloves are provided.

NOTE: The Telescope Experience is a learning opportunity with weather permitting views of the sky. While this tour features a number of non-weather-dependent activities, we DO NOT need the sky to be completely clear to use our telescopes, we CAN NOT guarantee clear skies. We DO NOT provide refunds if skies are too cloudy to observe, BUT a 2-year “rain check” to re-book for another date is included in this tour.

Our cancellation policy is 24 hours – the best in the Rockies!

• We are not able to accommodate unaccompanied minors.
• We are also not able to accommodate parties of one person alone with a presenter in the planetarium. In the case where one person books into the Planetarium and no other guests have booked, we will try to offer an alternative time or have a second staff member available to attend with you and your presenter inside the dome. Parties of one person are permitted for our outdoor telescope experience, regardless of how many others are booked for that experience.

3) Wild-Sky-Wednesday / Far-Out Friday dark sky binocular experience

At the conclusion of the telescope experience, hop in your vehicle and follow one of our staff to an even darker location (approx 8 minutes from the Planetarium) where you’ll get the use of a pair of astronomical binoculars (disinfected for you before use) and a comfy reclining seat to gaze up at the stars. Once at our dark[er] sky location, your guide will use a powerful green laser to point out planets (seasonal), stars and deep space objects you can spy in the sparkly ‘river of stars’ of the Milky Way.

In the event of clouds, our staff will make a call at the end of the Telescope Experience as to whether or not the binocular part of this tour will go ahead. (If this part of the tour does not go ahead, you are eligible for a 2-year rain-check where you can come back for another chance to experience this part of the tour at-no-additional-charge anytime up to 2 years from your original booking date. This rain check is automatically in-effect [You do not need to do anything to activate it – Just call us when you want to use it!])

For our Wild-Sky Wednesday / Far-Out-Friday tour only, the minimum number of participants is 8, maximum 25.

*** Out of respect to all of our guests, we do NOT admit latecomers for our planetarium dome experience ***

**2019 Travel Alberta ALTO Award