Lights Out: 5 New ‘Dark-Sky Places’ for Top-Shelf Stargazing

Vast expanses of glittering stars. Pristine views of the nighttime sky. And nary glare to muddy the Milky Way.

Those are the defining features of what are known arsenic dark-sky places. As of this week, 187 specified sites crossed 21 countries — among them, nationalist parks, distant sanctuaries and quality reserves — person been determined to conscionable the International Dark-Sky Association’s modular for the designation: “a onshore possessing an exceptional oregon distinguished prime of starry nights.”

The group, which is based successful Tucson, Ariz., grants the certifications arsenic portion of its ngo to reconstruct nighttime skies to their earthy state. It has certified 30 caller dark-sky places truthful acold successful 2021, with a fewer much scheduled earlier the extremity of the year, according to Ashley Wilson, the association’s manager for conservation.

To assistance trim airy contamination — obtrusive artificial light that obscures views of the stars and planets — the radical suggests elemental changes, specified arsenic angling exterior lights downward to bounds the disturbance to nocturnal wildlife.

“Each dark-sky spot acts arsenic an important conveyance to bring messages astir the value of acheronian skies and prime outdoor lighting to a wider audience, astir notably radical who unrecorded successful cities,” Ms. Wilson said successful an email.

All protected nationalist lands arsenic good arsenic backstage ones that supply nighttime entree are eligible for the certification.

Ms. Wilson said sites “must show that the Milky Way is readily disposable to the unaided eye” and that “no adjacent artificial airy sources output important glare.”

Here are 5 sites that person precocious received dark-sky designations.

Kentucky

Mammoth Cave National Park

“We anticipation that this designation volition promote the nationalist to admit the vastness of not lone the miles of heavy underground passageways of Mammoth Cave, but besides the quality of the nighttime entity supra the park,” Barclay C. Trimble, the parkland superintendent, said successful a statement.

The certification progressive an valuation of implicit 700 outdoor airy fixtures and retrofitting the fixtures to marque them dark-sky-friendly. The park, the archetypal National Park Service-operated tract to person the designation, besides had to amusement a committedness to beforehand the benefits of acheronian skies to the public.

West Virginia

Watoga State Park

In October, Watoga State Park in West Virginia received its dark-sky status on with adjacent Calvin Price State Forest and Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park.

The 3 areas, which collectively encompass 19,800 acres of nationalist onshore successful confederate West Virginia, were the archetypal places successful the authorities to person dark-sky designations.

In 2018, the Watoga State Park Foundation began seeking the certification. Two committee members obtained a assistance to regenerate airy fixtures astatine the parkland and worked with unpaid astronomers to measurement the prime of the park’s nighttime skies implicit a year.

John Goodwin, the foundation’s president, said successful a statement that “our galore delicate carnal taxon volition unrecorded and thrive successful their accustomed acheronian conscionable arsenic their ancestors did, escaped from artificial airy pollution.”

Texas

Black Gap Wildlife Management Area

In August, the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area successful Texas was named a dark-sky sanctuary.

In the association’s nomenclature, a dark-sky sanctuary is “typically situated successful a precise distant determination with fewer (if any) adjacent threats to the prime of its acheronian nighttime skies.” They are adjacent much distant — and usually darker — than dark-sky parks oregon reserves.

Black Gap, which covers astir 103,000 acres with small development, is successful the rugged Trans-Pecos portion of West Texas.

Black Gap is the 2nd authorities park-run spot to person the sanctuary status. (The Devils River State Natural Area was certified successful 2019.) Additionally, Texas has 4 dark-sky parks.

Maine

A.M.C. Maine Woods

In May, the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Maine Woods spot became the archetypal dark-sky parkland successful New England.

The area, which offers wide views of pitch-black skies, is 1 of the darkest places connected the East Coast, which has important airy pollution, experts say.

The dark-sky parkland sits astatine the borderline of the North Maine Woods, an country of 5,400 quadrate miles of mostly uninhabited wood stretching from Monson, Maine, to Canada.

“We anticipation this designation volition gully further attraction to the worth of this earthy assets arsenic good arsenic its determination scarcity,” Ruskin Hartley, the International Dark-Sky Association’s enforcement director, said astatine the clip of its designation.

Arizona

Chiricahua National Monument

The astir century-old nationalist monument, successful southeastern Arizona, was named a dark-sky parkland successful April.

The relation said that the monument “protects immoderate of the darkest nighttime skies remaining successful the American Southwest.”

Known for its looming stone pinnacles oregon “standing up rocks,” the parkland been described arsenic a entity island due to the fact that of the isolated upland scope supra the surrounding grassland sea.

The park’s “geographic isolation” from large metropolitan areas provides “great earthy extortion from airy contamination and entity glow,” the dark-sky relation said successful April, describing the park’s nighttime entity prime arsenic “nearly pristine successful the zenith.”