Crystal Coast Star Party 2026: Starlight Cruise to Cape Lookout Lighthouse

During our annual star party, join a park ranger for a starry night beside the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The park ranger will give a program about different constellations, stories about using the stars for navigation, and more. Enjoy the first International Dark Sky Par......More

During our annual star party, join a park ranger for a starry night beside the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The park ranger will give a program about different constellations, stories about using the stars for navigation, and more. Enjoy the first International Dark Sky Park on the East Coast. Visitors will experience the night skies with the sound of the waves crashing along the shore. Island Express Ferry Service will be taking visitors from Harkers Island Visitor Center to Cape Lookout Lighthouse by passenger ferry. Ferry passengers will disembark from the starlight cruise for a laser-pointed tour of the night sky by a park ranger. Visitors should bring chairs, bug spray, jackets, and red-light flashlights. The program will be around the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, where chairs are not available. Restrooms are available at the Light Station Visitor Center and at Harkers Island Visitor Center. This program is weather dependent. If rain or wind is predicted, the event will be canceled.

Visitors will catch the Island Express Ferry from Harkers Island Visitor Center

Crystal Coast Star Party 2026: Public Stargazing

Join us as the Crystal Coast Stargazers club lend their expertise and their telescopes for a night of star gazing and planet viewing. Dress for the weather and bring mosquito repellent (in case). Flashlights should have a red lens to protect your night vision.Have a tel......More

Join us as the Crystal Coast Stargazers club lend their expertise and their telescopes for a night of star gazing and planet viewing. Dress for the weather and bring mosquito repellent (in case). Flashlights should have a red lens to protect your night vision.Have a telescope? Bring it along and join us. Bring your own folding chair or a beach blanket/towel to use on the grass.This event is kid-friendly, but we kindly request no pets. Stargazing is weather dependent.  Please monitor the weather and/or call the Harkers Island Visitor Center (252-728-2250) before 5:00 P.M. (EDT) to confirm event status. 

Behind the Harkers Island Visitor Center

Crystal Coast Star Party 2026: Solar viewing with NASA Solar System Ambassador

Join Nasa Ambassador, Jimmy Fulks for solar viewing at the Cape Lookout National Seashore Harkers Island Visitor Center. 

Crystal Coast Star Party 2026: Astronomy Activities for Kids

Join State Park Rangers, Cape Lookout Park Rangers,and the Crystal Coast Stargazers for an astronomy activity. More information to come about the activity!

at Core Sound Waterfowl Museum Education Hall

Crystal Coast Star Party 2026: NASA Speaker: Sarah Elizabeth McCandless, NASA JPL Navigation Engineer

We’re excited to announce our speaker for the Crystal Coast Star Party 2026 – Sarah Elizabeth McCandless, NASA JPL Navigation Engineer – the interplanetary navigator for the Europa Clipper! The Europa Clipper, a mission to one of Jupiter’s moons, launched in October 202......More

We’re excited to announce our speaker for the Crystal Coast Star Party 2026 – Sarah Elizabeth McCandless, NASA JPL Navigation Engineer – the interplanetary navigator for the Europa Clipper! The Europa Clipper, a mission to one of Jupiter’s moons, launched in October 2024 and is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in 2030.Sarah Elizabeth has flown eleven different missions exploring our solar system, including the Mars Perseverance rover, Artemis I, Psyche, and Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor). Working as an “interplanetary Google maps”, she ensures NASA knows a spacecraft’s location and can precisely predict its trajectory to ensure successful orbit insertion about or landing on another planet or body. In 2024, she was selected for NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) Campaign 7 Mission 3 and served as an “analog astronaut”, simulating a mission to Mars for 45 days at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Outside of work, she enjoys running, camping, and piloting a Cessna 172S.

Event will take place inside the Harkers Island Visitors Center

Crystal Coast Star Party 2026: Public Stargazing

Join us as the Crystal Coast Stargazers club lend their expertise and their telescopes for a night of star gazing and planet viewing. Dress for the weather and bring mosquito repellent (in case). Flashlights should have a red lens to protect your night vision.Have a tel......More

Join us as the Crystal Coast Stargazers club lend their expertise and their telescopes for a night of star gazing and planet viewing. Dress for the weather and bring mosquito repellent (in case). Flashlights should have a red lens to protect your night vision.Have a telescope? Bring it along and join us. Bring your own folding chair or a beach blanket/towel to use on the grass.This event is kid-friendly, but we kindly request no pets. Stargazing is weather dependent.  Please monitor the weather and/or call the Harkers Island Visitor Center (252-728-2250) before 5:00 P.M. (EDT) to confirm event status. 

Behind the Harkers Island Visitor Center

Crystal Coast Star Party 2026: Starlight Cruise to Cape Lookout Lighthouse

During our annual star party, join a park ranger for a starry night beside the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The park ranger will give a program about different constellations, stories about using the stars for navigation, and more. Enjoy the first International Dark Sky Par......More

During our annual star party, join a park ranger for a starry night beside the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The park ranger will give a program about different constellations, stories about using the stars for navigation, and more. Enjoy the first International Dark Sky Park on the East Coast. Visitors will experience the night skies with the sound of the waves crashing along the shore. Island Express Ferry Service will be taking visitors from Harkers Island Visitor Center to Cape Lookout Lighthouse by passenger ferry. Ferry passengers will disembark from the starlight cruise for a laser-pointed tour of the night sky by a park ranger. Visitors should bring chairs, bug spray, jackets, and red-light flashlights. The program will be around the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, where chairs are not available. Restrooms are available at the Light Station Visitor Center and at Harkers Island Visitor Center. This program is weather dependent. If rain or wind is predicted, the event will be canceled.

Visitors will catch the Island Express Ferry from Harkers Island Visitor Center