“The universe opened up for us”: meet the astro-ambassadors who welcome astronomers to the Himalayas | Global development

TThe snow-capped peaks surrounding Hanle Village are bathed in golden light at sunset. In the valley, Tsering Dolkar, 28, attaches a telescope to his tripod and focuses the lens under a clear sky.

Donned in warm jackets, visitors gather around Dolkar, looking up as the sky darkens to form a breathtaking tapestry of stars. She points to a bright star in the western sky and announces, “It’s Venus.” » Someone excitedly said: “There’s the Milky Way! »

At 4,500 meters above sea level, Hanle in Ladakh offers some of the clearest night skies on the planet and became India’s first dark sky reserve in 2022. Dolkar is among 25 villagers – including 18 women – trained as astronomy ambassadors to boost Hanle’s tourism and provide livelihoods to villagers. The program also aims to preserve the essential conditions of the neighboring Indian Astronomical Observatory by raising awareness about light pollution.

Tourists pay around £1.70 per person for stargazing, guided by Dolkar and his fellow ambassadors, most of whom also welcome visitors into their homes.

“These are the interlocutors between the sky and tourists,” says Niruj Mohan Ramanujam, outreach manager at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore, the observatory’s main research partner.

Since the 2-meter Himalayan Chandra Telescope was installed by the institute in 2000, three additional telescopes have been added atop Digpa-ratsa Ri mountain or in its foothills, transforming Hanle into a world-class astronomical center and giving formerly nomadic communities a reason to settle down permanently.

After the government designated the area around the six hamlets of Hanle as a dark sky reserve, authorities launched a project to involve the community in the management of the reserve so they could share in the benefits.

Ambassadors receive a week of training and have access to telescopes.

The astrotourism initiative attracts thousands of visitors and the number of homestays has grown from a handful to 70, boosting the local economy and attracting those who had gone to work in the city.

In 2023, Dolkar transformed his five-bedroom single-storey house into a tourist homestay, charging around £17 per night for each person, with home-cooked meals of lentils, vegetables and rice. “During the day, I prepare meals and clean the homestay, then until midnight, I help tourists stargaze and explore the deep sky using my telescope,” says Dolkar. On average, 20 tourists come to stargaze per day, but on busy days, it welcomes more than 50.

Padma Chamchot, 25, says her role as an astro-ambassador has opened up opportunities for women like her. “I graduated from college and my only options were to wait for a government job – which is hard to get – or move to the city,” she says. Chamchot now earns more in a week than she could in a month working in one city as an assistant at a travel agency, even with an annual five-month break in tourism when snow closes roads to the outside world. “It’s a dream job: I get to see the stars every day, support myself and my parents, and meet tourists from all over the world, all while staying connected to my roots and promoting my culture,” she says.

“By becoming an astro-ambassador, the universe truly opened up to us.”

The initiative also preserves Ladakhi culture.

“Our elders relied on the stars for timing and navigation as they roamed the grazing fields with their herds, but we had completely lost touch with the sky over time,” says Kesang Dorjey, a former observatory worker who became one of Hanle’s leading astronomy ambassadors. “This program has transformed our lives. It provides a respectful and decent income while reconnecting us with science and our heritage.”

Astro-ambassadors looked to their elders to record stories. “We see striking parallels between scientific discoveries and our elders’ knowledge of the constellations,” says Dolkar. “An elder taught me to watch for certain stars as harbingers of summer planting. Now I have learned that this pattern is called the ‘summer triangle’.”

Even the acting head monk of the 17th-century Hanle Buddhist Monastery signed up as an ambassador. “Astronomy has long been at the heart of Buddhist practice: monks once used stars to mark festivals and sacred moments, but this tradition has declined in modern times. I wanted to revive it,” explains Nawang Tsoundu, 30. “By day, I meditate and teach at the monastery; at night, I guide visitors through my telescope.”

For the past three years, the Dark Sky Observatory and Reserve, in collaboration with local authorities, has organized an annual Star Festival, which brings together astronomy enthusiasts from across India, allowing participants to tour the facilities and attend classes on dark skies and astrophotography.

For Hashika Raj, 24, an energy systems engineer from Chennai, this year’s star party was “a unique opportunity”. “I’ve never seen a sky as clear as this,” she said.

While Dorjey celebrates the rebirth of his village and the benefits brought by the project, he worries that Hanle’s “Bortle 1” sky (as dark as possible) could be threatened by light pollution. Border tensions with China have led to a larger military presence, and when the village’s diesel generator shuts down at 11 p.m., the military camp’s lights continue to shine all night. Even some tourists go to the observatory with their headlights on, ignoring dark sky reserve advisories.

Dorjey says it took him a while to appreciate Hanle’s extraordinary skies, but with tourism booming, he fears commercial interests will outweigh efforts to protect them. He has briefed military commanders on the importance of minimizing light pollution – most comply, but there is frequent rotation of officers.

“I sleep badly,” he said, “haunted by the fear that these skies might be lost.”