“It’s really over the last 100 to 150 years is when modern lighting has just exploded (in use in the country),” Bartja said. “Literally we lost sight of (the skies).

“Astrotourists are reconnecting with something that has a deep, almost primitive feeling with humans. Sometimes you just can’t explain the feeling you get when you are looking up (at the sky). At least for me, it is purposeful in some way.”

The Colorado Plateau — which stretches for about 130,000 miles across the corner region of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona — has been a popular destination for stargazing tourists for years because of the higher elevations and frequent cloudless skies. Bartja said she believes Nebraska offers a view that in some ways has an advantage over that area.

“(Overtourism) is kind of happening on the Colorado Plateau right now,” Bartja said. “People don’t really like to go to a park and be surrounded by thousands of other people. You are not getting that same kind of feeling you crave.