Jasper Planetarium Dark Sky Package

This was an amazing experience for our family. We were the only ones in the group but the 4 guides treated us like we were a huge group. We were able to watch a planetarium show, look at stars through telescopes, learn about the aurora borealis and meteorites, see starts on the video scope and do a walking tour with binoculars. It as so informative and we were able to see so much and the coolest part was seeing the milky way with just our eyes. All of the guides were so knowledgable and passionate and my kids (ages 14, 12, and 9) loved it.

I was a little nervous about booking this - the 11 pm start time is way past my bedtime - but I'm so glad I did. The whole thing was delightful and even my spouse, who is a bit of a space nerd, learned some things. The guides were all wonderful, ranging from amateur space nerds to astro-physics students and graduates. They were very patient in helping us all see the different things we were looking for and explaining why each thing is interesting. Our group was very mixed in terms of experience and knowledge, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves! The planned viewings included Saturn and the Andromeda galaxy; the spontaneous sightings included several shooting stars and a glimpse of the Northern Lights. They gave us lots of tips about where to go around Jasper for further star gazing and how to use binoculars to view celestial objects, so we're all set for our next night time experience!

While the sky was cloudy most of the time, the program was well organized and very educational. Two super high power telescopes were set up and manned by staff to help find focus and adjust equipment for everyone to take turns looking. Then there was a big momma stationary telescope controlled by a computer with screens for all to see the deep space views. Some presentations on meteorites and auroras helped pass the time while waiting for skies to clear. Very professional program.

We couldn’t wait to get out. Boring delivery of video presentation which included people dressed up in masks…really…was that necessary? Tents erected in car park with samples and exhibits mildly interesting. I felt the package was so overpriced. We were quite glad it was cloudy so we could leave early. The ‘rain check’ is no use to travellers unlikely to come back. A refund, even for part of the tour, would be much fairer but I honestly wouldn’t waste your money in the first place. Oh, the only good point was the recliner chairs were so comfy my husband fell asleep!

The planetarium & talks on aurora borealis / asteroids / meteors / meteorites was fine. I’ve some reservations about the dark skys walk. We walked around the grounds of the fairmont hotel which is pretty brightly lit & into the gardens down by the river where it was pitch black to look at the sky with binoculars. Talk & looking at stellar bodies was fine but could have been better organised as the guides led from the front & if you fell or lost them, they’d never know.

This was a very disappointing experience! We have visited dark sky experiences in Australia and New Zealand and this fell woefully short. The “planetarium” was a dome tent in the corner of a hotel in Jasper. The lady who talked through the presentation sounded like someone reading a script with not much knowledge about the constellations. In our other experiences the passion for astronomy came shining through, enough to make me want to study it. On this experience we were bored and just wanted to go to bed! I will say the recliner chairs in the dome were very comfortable! We felt conned by the description and left early. While they can’t factor for the weather, to offer a “rain check”’seems unfair, especially for those travelling from other countries. We can’t complain about that though because they made that clear on booking, however other experiences we have booked have given a full or partial refund if the weather impacts the experience. I would not recommend this as an experience. We feel this was a waste of time and money. Perhaps more of the indigenous stories would have made it more interesting. Also there was a bug crawling across the projector which was a little distracting, again not really their fault. We didn’t stay for the telescope so can’t comment on that. I think the fact that we paid for the experience and left early speaks volumes.

Great information and details. It was cloudy so we were not able to use the telescopes or go on the hike. The guides were wonderful and I really appreciated knowing we could do a raincheck.

Very interesting. Learnt a lot

Excellent experience I would highly recommend. The staff really contributed to it being great. A number were astrophysics students who were extremely knowledgeable, excited to share their knowledge in a way that made it easy to understand. They were very enthusiastic and you could tell they loved what they are doing. While the clouds did not always cooperate and enable us to see all that had been set up for us to see - I would nevertheless not hesitate to recommend. The view of the moon was amazing and got to touch a piece of the moon - how many people can say that?

Really interesting experience. Joe was a great guide and really friendly.