In the dead of winter, the skies of Oman breathe fresh of life. In the heart of the starry nights in the Omani desert especially, when the dunes fall silent and the sky turns into a velvet canvas of glittering bodies, a small group of young Omanis gather around their telescopes. Their breath fogs the air, their boots crunch over powdery sand, and their eyes are fixed upward, not in search of direction, but in search of wonder. This is Stargazers, a homegrown sky-exploring project created by four Omani youth who turned their private passion into one of the most unique and soulful experiences in the Sultanate.
The team, which was founded by Ali bin Nasser Al Shuaili, Qasim bin Hamad Al Busaidi, Ali bin Rabi’a Al Kindi, and Yahya bin Hilal Al Kindi, didn’t begin with grand plans, they began with a simple shared obsession, to chase the stars. “We used to go out alone just to photograph the sky, the galaxies, the Milky Way, the meteor showers,” they recall. “Over time, we realized these moments were too beautiful to keep to ourselves, they deserved to be shared.” And so, in 2022, Stargazers came to life.
While much of Oman turns inward during the cooler months, Stargazers turns outward, to the sprawling night sky that becomes its clearest and most radiant during winter. The team leads groups into remote deserts untouched by light pollution, where the temperature drops, the air sharpens, and the heavens open up with dazzling clarity. These winter nights have become the project’s signature, perfect for meteor watching, stargazing, and experiencing the kind of cosmic silence that makes the universe feel close enough to touch. “Winter is ideal for our expeditions, the desert becomes the perfect observatory,” they say. In summer, they shift toward cooler winds and higher ground, to places like the Al Hajar Al Gharbi Reserve, where elevated cliffs offer breathtaking panoramic views of the vast skies.
What began with a handful of friends has grown into a movement attracting people from every corner of Oman, and beyond. A typical trip now includes 10 to 15 participants, many of them young Omanis discovering astronomy for the first time, along with travelers seeking to see Oman through a cosmic lens. Each journey starts with curiosity and ends with awe. Participants gather around telescopes, some professional for deep-sky astrophotography and others small and accessible, while the team explains the stories of the stars, celestial navigation, and the personalities of planets. They guide everyone into hands-on observation and even help them capture their own moments beneath the luminous sky. “We want people to leave feeling a sense of connection, with the universe, with Oman’s skies, and with the beauty of creation,” the founders explain.
Despite their youth, the Stargazers team has already documented rare and extraordinary celestial events, among them the Perseids and Quadrantids meteor showers, crystal-clear captures of the Milky Way across Oman’s wilderness, comets including the recent Comet Lemmon, and most astonishingly, the first documented aurora ever seen from Oman’s skies. Their eyes now look toward future events, lunar eclipses, planetary conjunctions, and intense periods of solar activity.
Their growth has been fueled by the community that found them online. Social media, especially Instagram, became their main engine for connection and visibility. “Through it, we reached people from inside and outside Oman who love astronomy,” they say, describing how their images of nebulae, constellations, and silhouettes of Omanis beneath glowing skies drew thousands into their orbit.
Challenges are part of the journey, unpredictable weather, long travel distances, and delicate equipment all require constant attention, yet none of it dims their determination. Looking forward, the founders hope to expand Stargazers into educational programs for schools and universities, and to offer specialized trips for visitors seeking cosmic adventure in Oman. Their vision is simple yet ambitious, to place Oman on the regional map as a destination for astronomical tourism.
In a world of screens and noise, Stargazers brings people back to silence, wonder, and connection. It is a reminder that Oman’s beauty doesn’t end at its mountains, wadis, or coastlines, it continues upward into the endless dome of stars. For anyone searching for a magical winter night activity, something meaningful, calming, and unforgettable, these young Omanis have already created the perfect invitation, come sit under the Omani sky, listen to the whispers of the universe, and let the stars tell their stories.
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