Dark sky escapes

Night-sky tourism, or "noctourism," is set to be a major travel driver this coming year, Booking.com predicts.

Why it matters: The trend could bring travelers — and their dollars — to more remote locales with better night skies.

How it works: You don't have to leave the country to get a great view of the cosmos, but you typically want to get away from big cities and their light pollution.

• The U.S. is home to over 100 dark sky sanctuaries, parks and more, according to DarkSky, which calls itself "the globally recognized authority on light pollution issues and night sky conservancy."
• You can use Dark Site Finder's online map to help you plan some noctourism of your own.

Zoom in: Many of the country's best dark sky sites are out West, like Arches National Park in Utah, Big Bend National Park in Texas, and the Oregon Outback, named last year as the largest "dark sky sanctuary" in the world

• Sparsely populated, rugged and remote, the sanctuary in southeastern Oregon is comprised of some 2.5 million acres and is home to some of the best stargazing in the world.

If you go: Try downloading apps like Sky Guide, which uses your GPS coordinates to help you ID what planets and stars you're seeing in the evening sky — just keep the brightness low to avoid ruining your night vision.

• Also consider grabbing a flashlight or headlamp with red LEDs, for the same reason.

The intrigue: With the sun now in "solar maximum," it's also prime time for aurora-hunting in northern-latitude locales like Alaska, Iceland and the Nordic countries.

Yes, but: Some astronomers and stargazers are worried that the ever-increasing amount of satellites and space junk in low Earth orbit could mar our views of the night sky — perhaps forever.

The bottom line: Get your noctourism in now while the view remains spectacular.