Has anybody ever been to a place designated as an official dark sky program location, for sky-watching? Can you please share your experience - your location, what you took with you, and if you brought any optical equipment with you. In general, what to expect in such places, and how to make the most of such a trip. Accommodations/camping. Safety. Best season for sky-watching. Anything else of note. I am in Columbus, OH, but can travel to a nearby out-of-state location.
I found the IDSA website and it is very useful. Personal experience/anecdotes would be more so. TIA.
Nope. I have been to what looks like the only South African parkon the program, but I was there before the program and while the skies were spectacular, I wasn’t actually there for sky-watching. I’ve also been right next to the NamibRand reserve, the only other Southern African site, but again, wasn’t there specifically for stargazing.
Having said that, large parts of the interior of South Africa are dark sky areas, and in my experience, even just a decent pair of binocs increases the value immensely. All the best dark sky localities I’ve been to tend to not have much built accommodation, naturally. Camping seems to be the norm. It’s probably similar in the US.
I’ve been to several in Utah, although not deliberately in search of dark skies. I HAVE ben to several Utah areas at night that were definitely as dark as official Dark Sky locations – along I-80 in the Salt Desert, up in the Utah mountains, away from any man-made lights. The skies are gorgeous and filled with magnitudes more stars than I’ve seen anywhere I was living in the East, even asway from large cities.
My experience is similar to yours, except that the most clear starwatching I’ve experienced was in a cabin in Shenandoah National Park, where I saw stars between the stars that I normally see.
The two times I’ve stayed in an official Dark Sky place I haven’t deliberately looked for the stars, even though I took pictures during twilight (Death Valley’s sunset was quite amazing although the surrounding terrain and aridity and elevation probably had more to do with that than the darkness.)
I’ve tried to stargaze more at Guadalupe Mountains National Park but it was never as star-filled as Shenandoah was, because I visit during monsoon season when it is often overcast, and it isn’t as dark as possible in recent years due to the lights of all the natural gas wells in the plains below the park, which are neat to look at during the night in their own right but I’m sure they don’t do anything for the darkness of the skies.
Never been much of a stargazer myself - happens too darned late at night!
But my wife used to be quite active in a local astronomy club that a good friend of ours heads. They identified local viewing sites near the Chicago area, and in various other locations. As I recall, the main needs are to get there early enough, set up, and eschew lights so as not to mess with others’ night vision.
They tend to be off-the-beaten track, so do not count on amenities. You are pretty much on your own in terms of food and drink intake and output. Dress appropriately - can get cold at night. And bring bug spray and whatever it takes for you to be comfortable - lawn chair, etc.
My wife always brought her scope, but her friends always had more impressive optics. IIRC, my wife thought her nice pair of image stabilizing binos were just abut as good for most amateur viewing.
Study up beforehand on what you should be able to see. Have a plan of what you want to see when. Pretty basic - check what the moon will be. Definitely bring a red filter for any penlight to check charts, coordinates, etc. And don’t set up in a way that creates tripping hazards for other viewers.
Sorry if those sorts of things aren’t relevant to the officially designated sites you mention.
None on that map, that I know of, but I have spent some very dark nights in Haiti, South and Central America, and in the middle of Lake Mead in Nevada. It’s a very cool experience!
I’ve been to several Dark Sky areas while hiking through the Southwest. Problem is, after a day of strenuous hiking and sore feet, all I wanted to do was collapse in my cabin, rather than going out stargazing. The one exception was getting back to my car at Horseshoe Canyon in Utah. I had just enough energy to lean back and appreciate the sky filled with stars.
Not an official Dark Sky area, but on the island of Martinique, my hotel was somewhere on a little peninsula sticking out into the ocean. I missed the hotel and drove all the way out to the end of the peninsula to a totally desolate area. I looked up at the sky and was awestruck by what I saw.
The Southwest Montana Astronomical Society had their annual Montana Starwatch campout in the Lewis and Clark National Forest for a few years. And one night, I was the designated custodian of the club’s 20-inch Dobsonian.
Man, let me tell you, that was real, and it was spectacular. In those skies, with a scope that big, you can see darned near everything, and even the things you’re used to seeing, look so much better that there’s no comparison.
I have been fortunate enough to do my fair share of travelling and then some, but there is something about the Utah high desert nighttime skies that is like nowhere else on Earth.
I don’t miss much about living in America, but the stark beauty of the Desert Southwest (and decent Mexican food) will always be close to my heart.
I’ve been to many of the Dark Sky locations in the USA, but not specifically for star watching. I used to go to Anza-Borrego all the time for meteor showers. My best all-time dark sky viewing experiences have been at Organ Pipe NM and at Tamarack Flat Campground in Yosemite.
I don’t think I’ve been to any place that has an official dark sky designation, but I remember camping at Yosemite a little over a decade ago, looking up, and being wowed by how spectacular the stars looked compared to at home.
Some other places I’ve been to that didn’t officially have the dark sky designation but were far enough away from urban light pollution to get a good look at the stars have been the Australian Outback, Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, and various other parks in Kenya and Tanzania on that same trip. In Kenya some other members of the group took the opportunity to attempt some time lapse sky photography.
Utah, Dead Horse Point State Park. I even set up the tent without the fly. Two nights’ stay. Promptly fell asleep around twilight on both nights. This was a week and a half ago.
I almost forgot about this: When I was on the Big Island of Hawaii, one night I went on a stargazing trip. A bunch of us were driven up to the top of Mauna Kea, where they have all the telescopes. Some of the people had to be reminded to look up at all the stars. Then the guide set up a telescope, and we viewed several of the planets.