Star observatories you can visit in the United States | Hacker News Reader

Star observatories you can visit in the United States

matadornetwork.com

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Another cool spot to add to your roadtrip is Cherry Springs State Park, a dark sky preserve in Pennsylvania.

> Astronomers and stargazers appreciate Cherry Springs State Park for the darkness and clarity of its skies, which make it "perhaps the last best refuge of the natural night sky" in the eastern half of the United States. The sky at Cherry Springs has been classified as a 2 on the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, meaning it has almost no light pollution. Such "truly dark, starry skies are unavailable to two-thirds of the world's population, including 99 percent of people in the continental U.S. and Western Europe". With optimum conditions, 10,000 stars are visible with the naked eye at the park, clouds appear only as black holes in the starry sky, and the Milky Way is so bright that it casts a discernible shadow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Springs_State_Park#Dark...

If any French people happen to come across this thread, I recommend visiting the Observatoire des Baronnies Provençales. I went there this summer and really loved the experience. We observed various astronomical elements (the sun, planets, galaxies, stars, etc.) from 2pm to 2am. We used different instruments, from a large dome telescope to smaller ones, as well as a connected telescope for taking pictures—the eVscope, an amazing piece of hardware and software—and infrared binoculars. We also did other activities, like identifying an exoplanet with the astrophysicist in residence. Highly recommended for amateur astronomers. Places like these are unfortunately quite uncommon in France.

Palomar Observatory between Los Angeles and San Diego) is also open to the public but they don’t have concerts. https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/visitor/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palomar_Observatory

Also, if you happen to find yourself around Mauna Kea, HI (watch out for invisible cows!) some friendly telescope employees may be gracious enough to give you a tour. There is also one radio telescope on the mountain that is capable of being arrayed with other radio telescopes (such as the VLA or GBT) for an even longer baseline (and correspondingly higher angular resolution).

Since the TMT protests, access to the Mauna Kea summit is much more restricted. I would not count on going up past the visitor center or getting any kind of tour. The Subaru telescope has ended their public tour program.

> watch out for invisible cows!

Um, can you explain this bit?

Cattle that are hard to see given the environment: https://boingboing.net/2021/10/18/the-story-of-hawaiis-invis... .

"Most of the Mauna Kea access road below Hale Pohaku is open range, and the cows frequently cross the road. Dark colored cows are often invisible in darkness and/or fog. Use extreme caution and drive very slowly in this open range."

https://boingboing.net/2021/10/18/the-story-of-hawaiis-invis...

I was able to drive up Mauna Kea and walk around, even if I wasn't able to go inside any of the telescopes. Pretty cool place and the elevation alone is a wild experience.

Actually, there are two radio telescopes near the summit, the JCMT and SMA, which can be arrayed with other telescopes around the world (that's how the first black hole image was obtained) and there is a VLBA antenna a bit further down from the summit which is used as as an element in a lower frequency radio array spanning the United States from Hawaii to the US Virgin Islands.

I've been to the Lick Observatory. One of the best kept secrets in the Bay area is that during the summer they have a concert series which performs at the observatory and includes the chance to look through their telescopes, mini lectures from astronomers and a gaggle of amature astronomers who bring their own telescopes to give visitors more chances to view the night sky. It's so much fun for the price of a ticket.

What is lick on the bortle scale?

No idea. Though if you're after the absolute best viewing conditions I doubt Lick Observatory is it. Most because there has been a huge amount of development in the surrounding urban areas since it was built in 1888, so there is a lot of light pollution.

Mostly the original telescope they have there is an absolute work of art. It was the largest refracting telescope when it was built. Just being in the room with it is awesome inspiring. The entire room is crafted for the purpose and beautiful. It's like walking into a scene from Myst.

They have a much more powerful, more modern reflecting telescope there too, and it's like 1/10th the physical size of the old one, but nothing beats viewing through such an inspiring machine.

if you want a wild looking telescope, i saw this recently. it's the scope that Percival Lowell made this mars observations with in arizona. made it Pennsylvania (like me). upenn gifted it to new zealand in the 50s, but they couldn't get it installed because the roads weren't paved in this part of south island until the 90s or something like that.

https://www.brasheartelescope.org/

The Very Large Array is having their annual open-house event on Oct 21. Free admission and some tours. https://public.nrao.edu/event/very-large-array-open-house-fa...

I've been to the Keck (back 15 years or so ago). It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience seeing that telescope which was in so many PBS specials (the astronomers comes to mind)… but I couldn't help but feel we took our lives in our hands.

As a Californian, I was not prepared for the bitter cold at that elevation. We drove up in an old suburban--the roads were treacherous. If the car had broken down, or we'd gotten delayed past sundown, we would have simply died up there.

I don't know if it is still there, but there was a gift shop at the base of the mountain that you were advised to stop at for 20-minutes to acclimate to the pressure.

When we got to the telescope, it was essentially self-serve. There were a couple of exhibits, and we were able to see the telescope itself, but there wasn't anyone up there as near as I could tell.

It doesn't surprise me that it’s closed.

I might be able to dig up pictures but they'd be of the iPhone 3G variety.

> MIT’s Haystack Observatory, an hour east of Boston

So I have to take a boat to get there?

The article is wrong. It's an hour northwest of Boston.

I’ve visited Arecibo, a few near Shanghai, Gemini/SOAR/Cerro Totolo, the centre of the universe in Victoria BC, one near Cape Town, and several university ones, and probably a few more I am forgetting. UCO Lick was my favorite though, maybe followed by Cerro Totolo/Gemini.

Great list, I'd add Griffith Observatory in LA, only because it's one of my favorite spots on Earth :D.

Carnegie Observatories (in Pasadena CA, not the telescope) is hosting an open house today (https://carnegiescience.edu/carnegie-observatories-2023-open...). It’s also almost the 100-year anniversary of one of the most important discoveries in science (and took place at Carnegie).

Kitt Peak outside of Tucson, AZ has always been a site of fond childhood memories of participating in their Night Observing Program, and enjoying their solar observatory as part of a school field trip.

It looks like they had a soft reopening late in September, so hopefully full tour options will return in short order.

> The Lick Observatory is located in the San Jose mountains on a site chosen by James Lick, a wealthy businessman who donated to educational causes throughout California. He’s buried under the telescope, which began operations in 1988, a year after his death. Shortly after that Jupiter’s moon Amalthea was discovered here.

The Lick Observatory began operation in 1888 [0] (not 1988), and was constructed between 1876 and 1887 [1].

[0] https://www.lickobservatory.org/about/

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lick_Observatory

Tangential question — what's a good spot in the US to observe the stars with the naked eye? There are many such lists on the web, but I tend no to trust them.

Has anyone experienced a dark sky lately in the US?

In the Northeast, Cherry Springs State Park in PA as someone else mentioned.

Out in the Mountain West, anywhere remote will do. Partial to Yellowstone myself.

In California, the east slope of the Sierras is pretty dark in most places. Even Yosemite is not terrible, though the light pollution from Fresno is noticeable.

The desert southwest.

Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, , parts of Colorado, etc.

Just go in the winter or shoulder months so you don't melt.

But the Milky Way is way better in summer.

On our road trip we visited Bryce Canyon. At Sunset point you get a few lights from Tropic. But when you continue to drive south there is nothing.

In west Texas, there is the McDonald Observatory, see https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/

One of my wife's former co-workers is married to an astronomer who works there six months out of the year. It was amazing talking to him about his experiences.

If considering a trip to this area, be sure to read about McDonald Observatory's star parties and especially the special viewing nights. It's one of the best places to look through a very large telescope in a very dark place. Even looking around from the mountain top, or just the parking lot, is a special experience.

Death Valley is very dark. Anza Borrego also in CA. Lots of places in New Mexico.

You really don't have to venture too far from civilization to see the milky way with impressive clarity. Go camping somewhere pretty rural.

Big Bend National Park, a two hour drive from the McDonald observatory has extremely dark skies, as does the area immediately around the observatory. On the drive to the observatory from Fort David you’ll drive past a community of folks who live near the observatory specifically for the astronomy opportunity the dark skies there afford.

The entire Big Bend region is beautiful, remote, and very dark at night.

Central Idaho is also a dark, beautiful place for stargazing.

The chatbot on the home page has quite a broad knowledge base?

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I like the article but there are multiple errors in the first paragraph: "[James Lick] is buried under the telescope, which began operations in 1988, a year after his death."

Foothill College Observatory, Los Altos Hills, is open to the public Fri & Sat: https://foothill.edu/astronomy/observatory.html

They also have occasional events and lectures. It hasn't changed much since I was a docent in 1976.

Another small one that is worth a side trip is Robert Ferguson Observatory in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.

Not really on the way but close enough is Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park which has a gold rush era grist mill.

PARI(1) in the Mountains of North Carolina (Rosman) is a cool little observatory and museum. They offer science talks and let you look through a nice telescope on a clear night. Definitely recommended if you're in the area.

(1) https://www.pari.edu

Really cool that this includes information on when they’re open for visiting. Time for some new entries in my bucket list!

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