Stay until the stars arrive.
Lumenvale is a dark-sky observatory at 2,340 m in Graubünden. Twelve guests a night, from CHF 48.
Choose your nightLive sky over Lumenvale, looking east. 46.49° N, 9.83° E, 2,340 m.
20:10 Thirty minutes in the dark
We meet at the last Postbus stop at dusk and walk the 600 m up to the dome without torches. The hut switches off its lights at 19:40. From then on, nobody brings a white light near the terrace, and your eyes do the slow part on their own.
Scroll slowly. The sky behind these words is following the same curve your eyes would.
- 30 min
- How long the rods in your eyes need to reach full sensitivity. The cones are done in about 7. One look at a phone screen and you start over.
- 620 nm
- Above this wavelength, deep red, the rods barely respond. That is why the paths, the guides' lamps and this page are lit in red.
- 6.9 mag
- The faintest star you will see without help on a moonless night up here. In a city centre the limit is about 4, a twentieth of the stars.
21:00 The Moon decides
Only one thing undoes all of that. A bright Moon lights the whole sky and hides most of the faint stars, and no amount of waiting brings them back. Turn the dial through one lunar month and watch the sky behind it.
So every night we list carries its Moon: when it sets or rises, and how many stars it leaves you. See the nights
21:45 Without a telescope
Two hours in, the sky has turned 30° to the west and your eyes are fully adapted. Before the dome opens, the guides point out three things you can find again on your own.
-
The Milky Way through Cygnus
Our own galaxy seen edge-on, straight overhead. Up here it is bright enough to show the Great Rift, a lane of dust that splits the band in two.
-
The Andromeda Galaxy
A soft oval of light beside the chain of Andromeda's stars. It is the most distant thing most people ever see with their own eyes.
-
The Pleiades
A small dipper of blue stars rising in the north-east. Most people count six. Under this sky, count again.
22:30 The slit opens
At half past ten the dome turns and the shutter rolls back. Our telescope is a 508 mm reflector. It gathers about 5,300 times more light than your dark-adapted eye, enough to show the dust lanes in the Andromeda Galaxy.
Everyone gets turns at the eyepiece: Saturn and its rings, the Ring Nebula in Lyra, a double star that is gold on one side and blue on the other.
Private session, CHF 30. Twenty minutes at the eyepiece for your party alone, with a guide steering to whatever you ask for. Add it when you book.
- Aperture
- 508 mm (20 in)
- Focal length
- 2,540 mm, f/5
- Magnification
- 85× to 320×
- Dome
- 6.0 m, 360° rotation
- Altitude
- 2,340 m (7,677 ft)
- Sky brightness
- 21.8 mag/arcsec²
00:45 Choose your night
Every night is calculated for our terrace: when to meet, what the Moon does while we are out, and how many stars you can expect at the darkest moment. Twelve seats a night.
- Adult
- CHF 48
- Child under 16
- CHF 24
- Private telescope session
- CHF 30 per party
- Meet 18:55 · back 00:25
Waxing gibbous, 79% litup all session
610 starsat best, Moon up
6 of 12 seats left
Moon 79% lit all session, so the telescope turns to Saturn and its rings. Orion clears the ridge at 23:30.
- Meet 18:55 · back 00:25
Waxing gibbous, 93% litup all session
460 starsat best, Moon up
5 of 12 seats left
Moon 93% lit all session, so the telescope turns to Albireo, a gold-and-blue double star. Orion clears the ridge at 23:25.
- Meet 18:50 · back 00:20
Waxing gibbous, 98% litup all session
430 starsat best, Moon up
4 of 12 seats left
Moon 98% lit all session, so the telescope turns to the Double Cluster in Perseus. Orion clears the ridge at 23:20.
- Meet 17:45 · back 23:15
Waning gibbous, 90% litup all session
1,400 starsat best, Moon up
7 of 12 seats left
Moon 90% lit all session, so the telescope turns to the Ring Nebula in Lyra. Orion clears the ridge at 22:05.
- Meet 17:45 · back 23:15
Waning gibbous, 72% litrises 20:25
4,000 starsat best, before 20:25
8 of 12 seats left
Dark until the Moon, 72% lit, rises at 20:25. Orion clears the ridge at 21:55.
- Meet 17:40 · back 23:10
Waning gibbous, 61% litrises 21:45
4,000 starsat best, before 21:45
7 of 12 seats left
Dark until the Moon, 61% lit, rises at 21:45. Orion clears the ridge at 21:55.
- Meet 17:35 · back 23:05
Waning crescent, 20% litbelow the horizon all session
4,000 starsat best, from 18:45
9 of 12 seats left
The 20% Moon stays below the horizon all session. Orion clears the ridge at 21:35.
- Meet 17:35 · back 23:05
Waning crescent, 6% litbelow the horizon all session
4,000 starsat best, from 18:45
8 of 12 seats left
The darkest night on this list: no Moon from 18:45 until we leave at 23:05. Orion clears the ridge at 21:30.
- Meet 17:30 · back 23:00
Waning crescent, 2% litno Moon tonight
4,000 starsat best, from 18:45
7 of 12 seats left
New Moon, the sky at its darkest. Orion clears the ridge at 21:25.
- Meet 17:25 · back 22:55
Waxing crescent, 6% litbelow the horizon all session
4,000 starsat best, from 18:40
9 of 12 seats left
The 6% Moon stays below the horizon all session. Orion clears the ridge at 21:10.
- Meet 17:25 · back 22:55
Waxing crescent, 18% litsets 19:35
4,000 starsat best, after 19:35
11 of 12 seats left
The Moon, 18% lit, sets at 19:35; full dark after that. Orion clears the ridge at 21:00.
- Meet 17:25 · back 22:55
Waxing crescent, 26% litsets 20:35
4,000 starsat best, after 20:35
10 of 12 seats left
The Moon, 26% lit, sets at 20:35; full dark after that. Orion clears the ridge at 21:00.
- Meet 17:20 · back 22:50
Waxing gibbous, 63% litup all session
940 starsat best, Moon up
12 of 12 seats left
Moon 63% lit all session, so the telescope turns to Almach, a double star in Andromeda. Orion clears the ridge at 20:40.
- Meet 17:20 · back 22:50
Waxing gibbous, 82% litup all session
570 starsat best, Moon up
12 of 12 seats left
Moon 82% lit all session, so the telescope turns to the Moon's craters along the terminator. Orion clears the ridge at 20:35.
- Meet 17:20 · back 22:50
Waxing gibbous, 89% litup all session
500 starsat best, Moon up
11 of 12 seats left
Moon 89% lit all session, so the telescope turns to the Blue Snowball nebula. Orion clears the ridge at 20:30.
- Meet 17:15 · back 22:45
Waning gibbous, 98% litup all session
850 starsat best, Moon up
12 of 12 seats left
Moon 98% lit all session: fewer stars, but the best night of the month for the Moon itself in the telescope. Orion clears the ridge at 20:15.
Times are Swiss local time. Sessions run 5 h 30 min from the meeting time. If cloud cancels a night, we tell you by 15:00 and you choose a refund or another date.
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