Young women turn Hanle’s dark skies into a guide for visitors

Four young women in Hanle, in India’s Himalayan Ladakh region, are working as astronomy guides while helping run their families’ homestays, BBC News reports. Palzes Angmo, Tsering Dolker, Tsering Yangdol and Padma Chamchot guide visitors through the night sky from the high-altitude village. They set up telescopes, identify planets and constellations, point out the Milky Way and help tourists photograph it with mobile phones.

Hanle stands 4,500 metres above sea level and is known for clear, dark skies. It is home to the Indian Astronomical Observatory and became India’s first Dark Sky Reserve in 2022. The designation helped put the village on the astronomy-tourism map.

Visitor numbers rose from about 3,000 a year five years ago to nearly 30,000 in 2024-25, according to government figures. In response, the Ladakh administration and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics trained 24 young people from Hanle and nearby villages in astronomy. The four women were among those trainees.

They studied stars, planets and constellations, learned to operate telescopes and practised photographing the Milky Way. Their astronomy work earns them about 25,000 rupees a month, although income falls during the harsh winter when fewer tourists visit. They say the money has given them greater financial independence and confidence.

The growth also creates a challenge. More visitors bring traffic, construction and artificial light, all of which threaten the darkness tourists come to experience. Sonam Jorphail, a senior engineer and outreach head at the observatory, said tourism was creating jobs but needed to be managed.

Residents say the sky has already changed. Dhuntup Chamchot, Padma’s father, remembers a time when people could sleep outside beneath an even darker sky. The guides’ work therefore depends on protecting the natural conditions that made it possible.