Why I’m going to reap the mental health benefits of stargazing in 2026

For me, this year will be about self-care through the stars.

It’s been 20 years since I first felt a palpable urge that someone could navigate the night sky. In 2006, I was at a conference in La Jolla, California, reporting for New scientist. Among the delegates was astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson. One evening, while we were all dining al fresco, he took out a laser pointer and showed us around the visible constellations. I was fascinated and impressed by the ease with which Tyson walked through the skies. I made a promise to myself: once I got home, I was going to become a stargazer.

This did not happen. I still haven’t learned to spot much beyond Orion and the Plow or the Big Dipper. Maybe I can blame the sky lit by the streets of my neighborhood, but I can also blame the fact that, even then, I was older than would be ideal. Love for the night sky develops best in childhood. Those who start young, guided by a parent or family friend, tend to have a lifelong affinity with the sky. And importantly, they also tend to have better mental health.

Connection with the cosmos is good for us. Research shows that it is associated with various positive aspects of mental health, as well as better overall happiness. It even makes us more generous.

The love of watching a dark night is known as noctcaelador, from the Latin for “night”, “sky” and “to worship”. The phrase was coined in 2003 by William Kelly, a professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon, in an article studying attitudes toward stargazing. Participants reported that they “very much enjoyed looking at the night sky” and that they experienced an “improvement in their mood while looking at the night sky.”

Last year, Kelly published further research showing that noctcaelador is linked to a personality trait called openness to experience, particularly achievable in childhood.

This aligns with research on the experiences of Gen Z night sky lovers. Members of Generation Z were born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s and are the first “digital natives.” Holly Brenna McNiven published an exploration of the noctcaelador in Generation Z last year as part of her master’s project at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She found that many of those who reported liking the night sky — which was associated with positive well-being — can trace their noctcaelador to childhood astronomy experiences.

His study only focused on 29 young people, recruited via astronomy clubs. It is therefore difficult to say how representative they were of their generation. What we can say is that sharing the love of stars with younger people can ensure that love endures. McNiven reports developing an affinity for the night sky while stargazing with his parents, and the majority of his participants also “noted memories related to learning and socializing with neighbors, teachers, friends, and family members.”

I’m a little sad that I didn’t get that star love when I was a kid, but there’s still time. And these days, I don’t even need clear or dark nights – good news when light (and other) pollution means most of the world’s population no longer has access to star-studded skies. After all, who needs clear skies when there’s a growing group of astronomers on TikTok (“SpaceTok”, for those in the know)?

It’s mostly Gen Z, so I’m not sure SpaceTok is for me. Being a little older, I’m grateful that on cloudy evenings you can still connect with the cosmos through books. I have a copy of the new Infinite Islandswhich features stereoscopic photographs of galaxies. And for Christmas, I received this one from Nigel Henbest Stargazing 2026a guide to this year’s sights for those who choose to look up. I just need to invest in a laser pointer and I might give Tyson a run for his money soon.

Michael Brooks is a science journalist and author specializing in physics