The Dark Sky Festival in Death Valley is astronomically awesome

ASTRONOMICALLY AWESOME: The biggest "awesomers" you're bound to ever meet? That's a somewhat heated topic, but, without quibble or controversy, many Californians have been known to drop a well-timed and well-intentioned "awesome, dude" or two. We're unapologetically given to awesome-ing things, we Golden State awesomers; it's one of our best-known traits. And if some people try to tell us that not everything deserves the amount of awe we'd like to bestow, well, we'll point in the direction of Death Valley National Park, a Gold Tier Dark Sky Park and home to the annual Dark Sky Festival. Awesome happenings are afoot at the nighttime event, which is very much about admiring our universe in the extremely dark park.

THE WINTERTIME WEEKEND... has become a telescope-laden tradition for astronomers and astronomy buffs alike. You can be a know-it-all about nebulae — and if you are, we're awesomely impressed — or you can arrive simply thinking the stars are pretty and you'd like to learn a bit more about their luminosity. Either way, the festival, which will twinkle from Feb. 21-23, is very much about making the most of this star-saturated place and its notable lack of artificial lighting. Some of the 2025 events include a tour of the constellations led by park rangers, opportunities to visit a telescope area, and informative chats with knowledgeable universe observers from the Las Vegas Astronomical Society and other organizations.

A COSMIC CONVENTION: Several galactic groups are part of the annual gathering, which is, well, awesome; take a look at the participants and 2025 now. You'll want to find lodging in or near the Furnace Creek area, so be sure to do that before loading up your spaceship and setting your coordinates for one of the darkest and most dazzling destinations around. A destination that, in the Californian parlance, simply awesome.