This is an educational trail depicting the Sun, the eight planets orbiting it, and five dwarf planets on a scale of 1:1 billion, which runs along the Jizera Highway. It begins at the Orle tourist station, where there is a spatial sculpture symbolizing the Sun, and ends at Jizerský stoh with a boulder representing Eris.
This 11.2 km long trail was created as part of the Jizera Dark Sky Park, the first cross-border park in Poland and the first in the world to protect the dark sky, as it is an ideal place for all astronomical observations, unlike the light pollution of large cities. In the sparsely populated Jizera Mountains, light pollution is practically non-existent and the visibility of stars is up to 40 times greater than in large agglomerations. This makes it easy to observe the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, star clusters, nebulae, and sometimes even shooting stars and meteors.
The extent of the problem of light pollution is evidenced by the numbers: in the centers of large cities, only about 300 stars can usually be observed, while at a distance from human settlements, up to 2,000 stars can be seen! A dark sky is therefore a great asset today that is worth protecting. The Jizera Dark Sky Park is located on the Polish and Czech sides of the Jizera Mountains, in the Jizera and Jizerka valleys. It covers an area of 75 km2.
The Astro Trail is not only a good lesson in astronomy, but also in geology, as the names, shapes, and symbols of the individual planets and dwarf planets of the solar system are depicted on metal plates mounted on large boulders symbolizing celestial bodies. These boulders were quarried in various quarries in Lower Silesia. Their colors are not random - they were chosen to resemble the colors of these planets. The exception is the model of the Sun, which was laid out of granite blocks and connected to a gnomon, one of the oldest and simplest astronomical instruments. It usually consists of a suitably embedded vertical rod or column, whose shadow shows the current position of the Sun.
This 11.2 km long trail was created as part of the Jizera Dark Sky Park, the first cross-border park in Poland and the first in the world to protect the dark sky, as it is an ideal place for all astronomical observations, unlike the light pollution of large cities. In the sparsely populated Jizera Mountains, light pollution is practically non-existent and the visibility of stars is up to 40 times greater than in large agglomerations. This makes it easy to observe the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, star clusters, nebulae, and sometimes even shooting stars and meteors.
The extent of the problem of light pollution is evidenced by the numbers: in the centers of large cities, only about 300 stars can usually be observed, while at a distance from human settlements, up to 2,000 stars can be seen! A dark sky is therefore a great asset today that is worth protecting. The Jizera Dark Sky Park is located on the Polish and Czech sides of the Jizera Mountains, in the Jizera and Jizerka valleys. It covers an area of 75 km2.
The Astro Trail is not only a good lesson in astronomy, but also in geology, as the names, shapes, and symbols of the individual planets and dwarf planets of the solar system are depicted on metal plates mounted on large boulders symbolizing celestial bodies. These boulders were quarried in various quarries in Lower Silesia. Their colors are not random - they were chosen to resemble the colors of these planets. The exception is the model of the Sun, which was laid out of granite blocks and connected to a gnomon, one of the oldest and simplest astronomical instruments. It usually consists of a suitably embedded vertical rod or column, whose shadow shows the current position of the Sun.
