Celebrate International Dark Sky Week from anywhere, with sessions streaming online starting Sunday (April 19).
The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA)'s annual event will be held between April 19 and 26. The full schedule is available here.
Presentations will be available for free online on both YouTube and Facebook. You can also discuss on social media using the hashtags #lookuptogether and #IDSW2020.
Related: The brightest planets in April's night sky: How to see them (and when)
Some of the highlights from this year's IDA sessions include presentations spanning millennia of human interactions with the sky, including cultures from New Zealand to Guatemala and technologies from navigation to photography. Many of the talks are appropriate and exciting for both adults and children.
"Right now, families around the globe find themselves spending many hours at home together," Ruskin Hartley, IDA's executive director, said in a statement. "It's a perfect time to reconnect with the night sky — and International Dark-Sky Week provides a portal for that experience."
The IDA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the sky and the nighttime environment, especially by encouraging the use of outdoor lighting that does not scatter into the sky. This Space.com story from 2018 shows how you can reduce light pollution.
You can follow updates for International Dark Sky Week on the official website.
- Best night sky events of April 2020 (stargazing maps)
- The 10 must-see skywatching events to look for in 2020
- Night sky, April 2020: What you can see this month [maps]
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
