Dark sky locations - have you been to one?

[beowulff]

We are up at our place near Williams, AZ for the long weekend.
It’s not an official Dark Sky location, but it’s pretty dark.
I’m spending some time perfecting my Milky Way shots.
Here is a sample. I’ll post back when I finish some stacked images, after I get back home.

[Spiderman]

@beowulff

Here is a sample. I’ll post back when I finish some stacked images, after I get back home.

Great sky! If you have a better one of the lake; that’ll be amazing after post. I’m guessing there was some wind when you took it?

[Melbourne]

@pulykamell

Yeah, I still remember the summer before college visiting one branch of my family in Tasmania, and being somewhere about an hour or so outside Hobart, looking up at the night sky and understanding for the first time why our galaxy was called “The Milky Way.”

I remember the summer before college visiting branches of my family across the USA, and never, in the whole visit, being out of sight of a light. It gave me some understanding of why Americans have to go to “Dark Sky Locations” to see a dark sky…

I live in the city now. I don’t see any stars. Zero.

[Nayna]

I haven’t been to Cherry Springs yet, but I’ve had the link up on my computer for a while now, just toying with the idea of scheduling a trip. It’s a good website, with info about lodging and how to plan your visit, and it shouldn’t be too far from you, OP - an eight-hour drive, maybe?

They host two star parties a year, and offer private tours, too.

Stargazing at Cherry Springs - Cherry Springs State Park

[Mangosteen]

Hawaii County (the Big Island) has a County wide policy of limiting lighting anywhere on the island because of the telescopes on top of Mauna Kea. All the street pole lighting have bulbs that point straight down and side shields that prevent the light from reaching the sky. Once you leave Hilo on the east side or Kailua Kona on the west side, the roads are dark with little or no street lighting. Road reflectors offer some help. Takes some getting used to, especially in the rain. (Hilo gets over 120 inches of rain annually) .

[mandala]

@beowulff

We are up at our place near Williams, AZ for the long weekend.
It’s not an official Dark Sky location, but it’s pretty dark.
I’m spending some time perfecting my Milky Way shots.
Here is a sample. I’ll post back when I finish some stacked images, after I get back home.

This is extremely beautiful! Do share further images. What kind of camera did you use? Looks like the city lights are not too far from you though, seeing the bright glow behind the trees.

@Nayna

I haven’t been to Cherry Springs yet, but I’ve had the link up on my computer for a while now, just toying with the idea of scheduling a trip. It’s a good website, with info about lodging and how to plan your visit, and it shouldn’t be too far from you, OP - an eight-hour drive, maybe?

They host two star parties a year, and offer private tours, too.

Stargazing at Cherry Springs - Cherry Springs State Park

Thanks for this information. Will surely be in my list of options when I plan.

[River_Hippie]

Not officially designated as far as I know but I used to go on an annual paddling trip to NW Arkansas and on the rare occasion that the sky was clear, I was awestruck by the night sky!

[Isamu]

There’s only one in Japan - on the tiny Iriomote Island. I have been there and it was beautiful.

[beowulff]

@mandala

This is extremely beautiful! Do share further images. What kind of camera did you use? Looks like the city lights are not too far from you though, seeing the bright glow behind the trees.

Here’s my final composite.

This is 24 images stacked and de-rotated with “Starry Landscape Stacker.”

These were taken with a Nikon D800E at ISO 1600, using a Nikon 20mm f/1.8 lens at f/2.0, for 5 seconds.

The glow is partially I-40, which is just behind the trees, but also there are some buildings on the other side of the freeway, which must have sodium-vapor lamps. I’ll need to check it out next time I go up.

I’m going to try this from a different location in 2 weeks - Kaibab lake. I don’t know if it will be any darker (Williams is due south of the lake), but I can get to the north side of the lake and put the Milky Way right where I want it, to get a better reflection. These photos were taken at a little watering hole, and there’s no easy way to get to the north side of it (I’m not going to try to hike it in pitch black).

There’s another lake not too far away (Scholz), which would probably be an awesome spot (Williams is to the NW, and Flagstaff is 20 miles East), but it’s a serious hike to get to the north side. I may try it next spring.