8 of the best places for stargazing in Asia (and 5 sights Hongkongers can enjoy)
Despite well-known problems with light pollution, it’s possible to find skies as impressive as anywhere else on earth. We’ve found the best places in Asia to stargaze – and there’s much to see in Hong Kong if you can’t get away
Asia has a reputation for light pollution, but away from the megacities there are dark skies as impressive as those anywhere else on the planet. If you’re headed to rural areas looking for dark night skies, always check the moon.
A bright moon is the biggest light polluter of all and washes out the stars for two weeks each month. So if you’re serious about stargazing, plan to be in your dark sky destination of choice in the period from about 10 days before a new moon to four days afterwards.
Check what’s happening with the monsoon, but clear nights in January tend to be the crispest in the northern hemisphere. Another date to aim for darkness is the Perseids meteor shower (August 11-12) if you want to see dozens – even hundreds – of shooting stars, while the Milky Way is most easily seen between July and October.
Yakushima, Japan
Heading to one of the world’s wettest places doesn’t sound like a great idea for a stargazer, but this beautiful forested island south of Kyushu offers some of Asia’s crispest dark skies. Downpours are common, but since rain cleans the atmosphere of dust, the clarity can be impressive. After a glorious sunset at Inakahama Beach on the west coast you can also see loggerhead and green sea turtles lay their eggs under the cover of darkness. As another bonus for space fans, the 90-minute hydrofoil from Kagoshima on the mainland to Miyanoura in Yakushima passes the island of Tanegashima, from where satellites and probes are launched for Japan’s space programme.
