Awestruck by the oranges and blues of the Jewel Box star cluster, part of the Southern Cross constellation, Pedro Froes manages to get out a few words: "It's incredible."
Froes is viewing the stars from a telescope in Desengano State Park, a rural patch of Brazil in Santa Maria Madalena largely spared from light pollution, located 260 kilometers north of Rio.
Desengano is Latin America's first "International Dark Sky Park," as designated by the global light pollution tracker DarkSky. And Froes is one of its growing number of "astro-tourists," drawn there by its isolation from cities and the light they spew into the night sky.
"From here you can see 3,000 stars a year with the naked eye, without the help of an instrument," says astronomer Daniel Mello, from the Valongo Observatory at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
"In cities like Rio or Sao Paulo, at most, you can see 200 a year."
In the front garden of the park's headquarters, located in the small town of Santa Maria Madalena, he conducts a public observation session in front of 20 people, pointing with a laser to the Southern Cross, Scorpio and Centaurus constellations.
The evening is part of a project created by Mello and a group of specialists in tourism, ecology and photography.
The nearest big city is 120 km away, protecting the park - replete with forest and mountains - from artificial light. That means the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye even on moonlit nights. Two telescopes provide views of more distant stars.
"I always liked to admire the sky, but I rarely had the opportunity to see it like here," says Froes, a 22-year-old biologist from Niteroi, a city near Rio.
Some 80 percent of human sleep under skies polluted by artificial light, the consequence of modernization and urbanization.
But beyond clouding out the stars, light pollution also has negative environmental effects - leading to restless humans and disoriented migratory birds, and causing reproductive issues for other species.
In Latin America, the only other such park is in Elqui Valley, Chile. Unlike in Chile, Europe or the United States, astrotourism is still in its infancy in Brazil.
But more and more stargazers have been trekking to Santa Maria Madalena, "especially in the last six months," says Nelson Saraiva. He runs one of the few hotels in the town of 10,000.
Saraiva, a retired teacher, is convinced astrotourism can be a huge boon for the community. Beyond Mello's observation sessions, there are also monthly gatherings that mix astronomy and gastronomy.
The government and local entrepreneurs have banded together to organize a star festival to take advantage of growing tourist interest. The first was in September, and plans are in place to hold it annually.
To get certification, the park also had to commit to promoting environmental education, as well as using low-impact lighting.
Those sorts of moves are good for the sky, but also have down-to-Earth implications felt closer to home.
"We have an enormous diversity of birds, mammals and reptiles only because the place is preserved," says park research manager Carlota Enrici. "Reducing light pollution keeps the ecosystem in balance."
Mello hopes other places in Brazil can follow Desengano's model, which would not only expand tourism but also "rescue people's contact with the starry sky and with nature."
