"Postponed. Check back soon!" That is what the date line on Discover Flagstaff's listing for the city's Silver Jubilee now says. The free celebration was planned for NAU's Ardrey Auditorium and presented by the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition. The Coalition's own events page still lists October 24 with details to come, and no new date has been posted.
On Saturday, Flagstaff still marks 25 years since October 24, 2001, when it became the world's first International Dark Sky City. The nights that best show what that designation protects are set by the moon's cycle, and between now and the end of the year two of them stand out.
What the Evening at Ardrey Was Supposed to Be
Flagstaff Business News reported on October 9 that the plan was music, storytelling and stargazing at Ardrey. It was meant to close out a year that the Coalition built around the milestone. That year included International Dark Sky Week in April, the NightVisions: Amber show at Coconino Center for the Arts through September 26, a fall Celebration of the Night, and the Flagstaff Star Party in Buffalo Park on October 1–3.
The city came into this year already holding a title. In November 2025, DarkSky International named Flagstaff its Dark Sky Place of the Year. The award cited the city's long-standing lighting controls, its ongoing community programs, and its work mentoring other places that are seeking certification. The Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition puts a number on that work. In a city of more than 77,000 people, it says, the artificial brightness of the night sky is over 90% fainter than over comparable cities without effective light-pollution control, and the Milky Way is visible over downtown.
That 90% figure describes the night with no moon. Under a bright moon, Flagstaff's sky washes out like anyone's. So the best nights to see what 25 years of amber streetlights and shielded fixtures have preserved depend on the moon, not on an event calendar.
This Weekend Is About the Moon Itself
The events still on the calendar for the anniversary weekend are built around moonlight, and that suits the timing.
Amber Moon Rising is part of the Coalition's free Full Moon Autumn Concert Series. It takes place at Buffalo Park on Sunday, October 25. The Coalition lists sunset at 5:39 p.m., moonrise at 5:10 p.m. and the end of twilight at 7:04 p.m. The start time is still listed as TBD and the program is still to be announced. The series pairs live music with cultural storytelling and guided stargazing. Concerts depend on the weather, and the Coalition posts official updates on its page and on its Facebook page before each event.
Dark Skies Downtown runs with downtown gallery partners through Monday, October 26, so it is still on for the anniversary weekend. The Coalition hasn't listed hours or admission, so check with the galleries before you go.
A moon that rises before sunset is close to full. It makes for a beautiful evening at Buffalo Park, and it hides most faint stars. The darker nights come a few weeks later.
Lowell Already Plans Its Nights Around the Moon
Lowell Observatory doesn't try to work around the moon. Its fall 2026 itinerary switches the evening program with the moon's phase, telling lunar stories when the moon is up and turning to exoplanets and the search for life when it isn't.
A full day on Mars Hill this fall runs like this:
- 12:30 p.m.: solar viewing
- 7 p.m.: telescope viewing at the Giovale Open Deck Observatory
- 8 p.m.: the Clark Refractor
- 9 p.m.: an outdoor Dark Sky Planetarium show on the rooftop
The Giovale Open Deck Observatory has six public telescopes, and viewing there is included with admission. Lowell is open noon to 10 p.m. every day except Tuesday. It also closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Telescope viewing generally starts around sunset, which can come as early as 4:30 p.m. in winter, so the observing evening gets longer as December approaches. General admission is $35 for adults, $30 for seniors 55 and older, $20 for ages 6 to 17, and free for younger children. On-site ticket sales stop at 9 p.m.
The Calendar That Can't Be Postponed
The American Meteor Society publishes each shower's peak along with how much of the moon will be lit that night. Here are the showers remaining this year, ordered from darkest sky to brightest:
- November 11–12. This is the second Taurid shower, which the AMS describes as much like the Southern Taurids but active a little later in the year. The moon will be a waxing crescent only 5% lit. The AMS rates the lunar conditions very favorable, and this is the darkest shower night left in 2026.
- Geminids, December 13–14. Usually the strongest shower of the year, with a waxing crescent 17% lit. The AMS calls 2026 a favorable year for it.
- Southern Taurids, November 4–5. This is the shower's fireball-swarm component, under a waning crescent 22% lit. Conditions are generally favorable.
- Leonids, November 16–17. A first-quarter moon 41% lit, which may hide the fainter meteors.
- Ursids, December 21–22. A waxing gibbous moon 91% lit, which will interfere significantly.
The Orionids peaked on October 21–22 under a moon 76% lit. That makes November the first real chance at a dark-sky meteor night this season.
NASA's 2026 skywatching list adds three dates. There is a supermoon on November 24, Uranus reaches opposition on November 25, and a second supermoon falls on Christmas Eve, three days after the December 21 solstice. Uranus reaches opposition the night after a supermoon, so the planet shares the sky with a nearly full moon.
Lowell's Friday Talks Fall Near the Dark Nights
Lowell's Worlds Revealed speaker series has three Friday evenings left this year. Each runs from 7 to 7:45 p.m. in the Lowell Universe Theater and is included with general admission. All three fall near the moon's quieter stretches.
- October 30: Spiders and the Discovery of Pluto, with Todd Gonzales. The talk covers how black-widow spider silk became the crosshairs in the astrograph used to discover Pluto. That discovery is Flagstaff's best-known contribution to astronomy.
- November 13: Asteroid Moons in the Solar System, with Kate Minker. It covers asteroid surfaces, binary asteroids and observations from ground-based telescopes. It comes the night after the November 11–12 Taurid peak, while the moon is still a thin crescent.
- December 11: Eclipse Comets, with Qicheng Zhang. It is two nights before the Geminids peak.
So a December 11 visit lands in the run-up to the year's strongest meteor shower, under a young moon, with sunset arriving early enough that Lowell's telescopes have most of the evening.
A Note for Anyone Walking Observatory Mesa
The mesa behind Lowell is in the middle of a forest-restoration project. Thinning on about 530 acres of small and medium ponderosa pines began around July 8 and was expected to take roughly six months, depending on weather and other conditions. The Greater Flagstaff Forests Partnership manages the work, and all logs and limbs are hauled offsite. Observatory Mesa carries sections of the Flagstaff Urban Trail System, and closures move as the logging crew works through Section 17 of the Lowell property. The latest closure maps are on the GFFP project page, and Lowell asks trail users to stay well clear of active equipment. If the timeline holds, work should wrap up around the turn of the year, close to the late-December solstice.
When the Coalition posts a new date for the Ardrey celebration, it will appear on its events page. Until then, November 11–12 is the darkest meteor-shower night left in Flagstaff's 25th year.
At Shane Randall, we pay attention to the details that shape a home in Flagstaff, and a dark night sky is one of them. If you're curious how a home's setting and views play into how it is presented, we're happy to talk it through. Contact Us.
