There is a moment of the year when everyone looks up toward the sky to admire, with a bit of luck, the best celestial shows. It’s the month of August, when nights fill with shooting stars and the conditions for stargazing become particularly favorable. This year the sky has really decided to go overboard: August 12 coincides with the peak of the Perseids and with a spectacular solar eclipse, while the planets offer additional opportunities to observe the sky.
If you’re thinking about the most fascinating places to experience these events and you’re drawn to astrotourism, you should put the Canary Islands on your wish list, a true paradise for observing starry skies. Here the combination of altitude, climate, stable atmosphere and very low light pollution allows you to observe the firmament in exceptional conditions. Protecting the environment is also aided by the Ley del Cielo, in force since 1988, which limits light pollution, radio-electrical and atmospheric pollution. It is no accident that La Palma and Tenerife have earned the double recognition of Starlight Reserve and Starlight Tourist Destination, while Fuerteventura is a Starlight Reserve and Gran Canaria a Starlight Tourist Destination.
The Canary Sky Delivers a Show: Three Appointments
Everyone has been talking about it for months: August 12 is a special day for Europe, with the total solar eclipse crossing part of the continent. Although in the Canaries it will be visible only as a partial eclipse, with a coverage of about 70-75% of the solar disk, the rare astronomical event will still keep a lot of people looking up. It will appear as a “bite” taken from the solar disk, according to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias: it will begin at 18:56-18:57 (Canary Islands time, UTC+1) on Wednesday, August 12, reach its maximum around 19:53-19:54 and end at 20:46, exactly as the Sun sets and sinks into the ocean.
Once night falls, the period’s most anticipated event arrives: the Perseids, one of the most famous meteor showers of the year. The peak is expected between the 12th and 13th of August, and this year the conditions will be particularly favorable because the new Moon will ensure a very dark sky, with no moonlight to disturb the gaze.
The third show comes a little before dawn on August 13: the alignment of as many as 6 planets—Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune—will be found along the ecliptic near the east-southeast horizon. The alignment begins to be visible around 5:30-6:00 in the morning (UTC+1) on August 13, about 1-2 hours before dawn. If you miss them, don’t worry: the phenomenon will last several days, during which the visible planets shift slightly in position and altitude.
The brightest objects will be Mars and Saturn, easily visible to the naked eye, while Mercury and Jupiter will be very low on the horizon, so a clear eastern horizon will be required. To admire Uranus and Neptune you’ll need a pair of binoculars or a telescope.
The result is a kind of three-part astronomical show: first the Sun obscured by the Moon, then, as night deepens, the Perseid meteors, and finally the planetary alignment with the first light of dawn.
Where to Observe the Sky in the Canary Islands
The tips for perfect stargazing and astronomical displays also apply to the Canary Islands: head to a high point with a fully clear horizon (western in the case of the eclipse) without obstacles or low clouds. The Canary Islands, where the sky is almost always clear in summer, are the perfect place to dive into the starry heavens.
Tenerife, the Balcony of the Stars at the Foot of Teide
To observe the sky, one of the most spectacular places in the Canary Islands is Tenerife, especially in the area of Teide National Park. At an altitude of over 2,700 metres, Las Cañadas del Teide offers exceptional conditions for nighttime observation. The area is recognized as a Starlight tourist destination and features numerous viewpoints from which to observe constellations and stars.
This volcanic landscape of rocks, craters and lava fields, after sunset, becomes a gigantic natural platform overlooking the sky. It is here that the Teide Observatory stands, at about 2,390 metres above sea level, one of the two major complexes that form the Canary Observatories, together with the Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma.
Among the must-do high-altitude trails is also the one leading to Guajara, a privileged point from which to witness the slow emergence of the first stars.
La Palma, where the Sky Is the Protagonist
If Tenerife offers the Teide’s spectacular scenery, La Palma represents another of the world’s major references for astrotourism. It is one of the greenest and most spectacular of the Canary Islands, dominated by volcanic landscapes, forests, canyons and coastlines shaped by the Atlantic waves. At the same time, it has a high quality of the sky, a factor that has made it one of the world’s leading destinations for stargazing.
On the island, at about 2,396 metres of altitude, on the edge of the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, lies the Roque de los Muchachos, one of the world’s most important astronomical complexes. Here rise about twenty of the planet’s most advanced telescopes, emerging from the characteristic sea of clouds that swathes the lower zones of the island. Among them are the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the Telescopio Nacional Galileo (TNG).
What to do here? Attend guided observations, nocturnal excursions and outreach activities, while several viewpoints allow visitors to observe the firmament independently. Among the most evocative spots is the Los Llanos del Jable observatory, where the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy appear in all their intensity.
Gran Canaria, Between Observatories and Starry Skies
On Gran Canaria, astrotourism becomes also a novel way to discover the island’s interior. At the Centro Astronómico Roque Saucillo (CARS), recognized by the Minor Planet Center with code MPC J45, you can dive into the world of astronomy just a few kilometres from the capital, Las Palmas.
At the Tasartico Astronomical Observatory, instead, you move away from the lights of inhabited areas, on the island’s western side (more wild and uncontaminated), where darkness becomes part of the show. Even in these observatories there are opportunities to live dreamy evenings watching the skies, among guided visits and events.
To admire the firmament even without entering an observatory, there is also the Mirador Astronómico de la Degollada de las Yeguas, in the south of the island and more precisely near Maspalomas: a particularly evocative place after sunset, which allows you to discover the island from a completely new perspective.
Fuerteventura and El Hierro, Where Darkness Takes Center Stage
In Fuerteventura, the Sicasumbre hosts the island’s first astronomical viewpoint
For those seeking an even more immersive experience, away from urban lights, Fuerteventura and El Hierro offer some of the archipelago’s most evocative landscapes.
In Fuerteventura, the Sicasumbre hosts the island’s first astronomical viewpoint where even non-experts can learn to recognize stars and constellations thanks to the dedicated informational panels. In the nearby expanses of Tefía, instead, simply moving away from artificial lights allows you to be amazed by the Milky Way.
On El Hierro, the westernmost and one of the wildest of the Canary Islands, the Mirador Astronómico de Malpaso offers one of the island’s most evocative observation points. On the clearest nights, here the horizon of the ocean seems to merge with the starry vault, creating a panorama where sky and sea seem to become one.
