The Darkest Skies
in North Carolina

"Sky quality measurements were recorded at Bodie Island in Cape Hatteras NS on 11/14/2007. The site demonstrated a scientific darkness reading of 21.76 SQM."

"Across the highway from the Ocracoke pony pens about halfway down the boardwalk at mile 12 marker. Views of both the Hatteras/Buxton and Ocracoke light domes, but no direct glare sources. Transparency is good, seeing is good. Milky Way is easily visible from 5 degrees above south horizon to 10 degrees above north horizon. Details not easily seen. DUst lanes of great rift and cygnus already set. MIly Way about 8 degrees wide. Overall a very dark site for the outer banks. The two light domes are easily seen but not excceedingly bright, and do not interfere with dark adaptation. SQM - 21.16 at 2400 am ; 21.30 at 0400"

"Mile Maker 24 of South Core Island. About 5% cloud cover mostly to the North and North west. Transparency is good to fair, fair to the west where stars are only visible 10 degrees and above the horizon. Seing is good. Light domes are not as prevelant as on Shackleford Banks, but still easily visible. However there is considerable direct glare along the western horizon, about 120 degrees wide. Milky Way is easily visible from 10 degrees below cassiopeia south to Sagittarius before getting washed out below sagittarius from light domes of Beafort and Moorehead City. Great Rift is visible, nut not a lot of contrast, and fine details of Milky Way are not evident. SQM - 21.16 at 21:16 ; 21.29 at 23:40."

"Some low clouds to the north and east early in the evening slowly clearing to just low clouds out to the east over the ocean. Very high airglow throughout the night. The light dome of Beaufort and Moorehead City is well defined to the WNW. There are many glare sources along the coast line from the NPS visitor center to the north for 10 or more miles. the Milky Way is clearly visible from below Cassiopeia all the way to the Sagittarius star cloud before is gets absorbed in the big light dome. The Cape Lookout Lighthouse is very bright up the coastline as it rotates its beacon light. Transparency is fair and seeing good."

"Exceptionally clear skies and air for this eastern US site. Very dry air with some moderate winds provided visibility of 50-75+ miles during the day. At night the horizon is almost completely illuminated by cities, small towns and rural farms and ranches. Some very bright direct glare sources in the cities of Harrisonburg and Fishersville (Hospital?). The Milky Way was visible to the horizon in the SW and obscured at about 25 degrees above horizon in the NE. Very good detail in Cygnus near the zenith. Washington D.C. light dome easily visible to the ENE. With some lengthy dark adaptation, this observer was able to see 6.7 magnitude star in Pegasus."

"Site 300 meters south of Big Meadows gas pump and Wayside café, seeing good, transparency good, but windy and getting hazier. Light dome from Washington D.C. brightest, many smaller ones around the horizon. Milky Way easy to see especially brightest parts in Cygnus and Cassiopeia. As night progresses, however, haziness increases and contrast decreases, especially along the southwestern horizon. SQM 21.27. Glare from several lights at Wayside and visitor center very distracting, kills night vision, illuminates landscape, much brighter than Venus from this location. By 4th set low clouds move in from the northwest and very hazy and windy."

"A very windy night with strong gusts. FWHM definitely affected, probably by vibrations of the observation tower itself. Light polltion sources visible both in foreground and at horizon. A thin layer of haze evident to east, possibly part of approaching clouds. First data set virtually cloud free. Sky free of contrails. Limiting magnitude found in Pegasus. Andromeda galaxy visible, M15 requires much effort. Milky Way detail easily detectable near zenith. Sky appeared noticeably brighter than previous nights, possibly due to some airglow. I also think it may have to do with the atmospheric clarity. All other nights contained some amount of possible light absorbing clouds. The second set of images from this night do contain some clouds, but the first set is clear."

"This was a very clear night. High humidity. Trees covered all of horizon from this site, but light scatter was evident to the north and west especially. LZM found in Pegasus. Moderate Milky Way detail was visible. M31 easily visible, M33 a difficult averted vision object. Airglow likely strong."

"SQM - 20.77. Surprisingly bright site due to proximity to Moorehead city and Beaufort to the North/NorthWest. Milky Way was visible to the south in Sagittarius. Details such as prancing horse and dust lanes were partially washed out from the light domes. Northern Milky Way was much harder to see due to lightdomes. Shadows cast by light from the north. Transparency was fair to poor, worse along the horizons due to high humidity. Seeing fair."