With natural darkness becoming a rare sight due to increasing light pollution, people can take advantage of Sleeping Bear ...

A decently dark site in a rural area has a sky background of about 21 mag/arcsec 2. In the Rocky Mountains in Colorado I’ve been to sites a bit darker than this, and it’s truly spectacular.

On the first night of the new moon, I gaze at the sky from a campsite in Northern California. The night is so black that when I hold out my hand, I can’t see my fingertips. It’s not just an ...