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• The prestigious North-American newspaper has published an extensive report promoting the Canary Islands’ astronomy tourism as a Starlight Reserve and rates the Teide and Roque de los Muchachos observatories.

The starry skies of the Canary Islands shine brighter than ever after their appearance on the main online page of the prestigious newspaper The New York Times, considered one of the most influential in the world. The article, entitled “Starry nights in the Canary Islands”, writes up the archipelago as the perfect destination for stargazing due to its clean and protected skies and recognition as a Starlight Reserve. The text is accompanied by powerful images of the Tenerife and La Palma observatories, as well as the Los Gigantes cliffs on Tenerife and a central street in La Laguna on Tenerife.

As well as brief history of the islands, the article notes that astrotourism is a growing activity in the Canarian archipelago that is already attracting around 200,000 visitors a year and is a variation on the consolidated sun and beach tourism of thousands of Europeans and increasingly popular active tourism. In testament to this, the article talks about the Starmus festival which combines music with astronomy and gathers together the most important figures in science and astrophysics, such as the distinguished theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

Much of the article is taken up by the Teide observatory in Tenerife and the Roque de los Muchachos observatory in La Palma, as places where darkness is preserved and light pollution is prohibited. Together with Fuerteventura this makes up the ‘Starlight Reserve’ and forms part of the EU Sky Route across Portugal, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and Greece. In fact, it states that La Palma is the best place in the northern hemisphere for infrarred and optical astronomy, which is why it is home to the largest optical telescope in the world.

The extensive article promotes astrotourism and picks up on the possibility of renting telescope-equipped holiday homes to enjoy stargazing under the Canarian skies. It also writes about island officials and the Spanish government attempting to forge the islands’ reputation as a key destination for astronomy amateurs and professionals, where “protecting the sky as a basic right for all humanity.”

In this regard, other islands such as Gran Canaria have developed the cultural project of the Temisas observatory (OAT) for the teaching, dissemination and study of astronomy led by amateurs and professionals, to complement the promotion of astrotourism. The recreational area of Las Nieves in the Garajonay National Park on La Gomera offers a wonderful location for observing the skies of the Canary Islands 1,250 metres above sea level. El Hierro has also joined in as the archipelago’s most southerly point for stargazing from the Orchilla lighthouse, a place with hardly any light pollution facing out towards the still Atlantic, which in the 17th century was chosen as the home of the prime meridian line until it was relocated to the English town of Greenwich in 1885.