Where can i stargaze in sacramento

Old Sacramento State Historic Park

The view of the night sky is wide open, and all it takes to see falling stars is a good place to sit and look up.

Yosemite National Park covers over 700,000 acres and is one of the best places to see the Milky Way in California. Its expansive acreage and remote location provide some of the darkest night skies in the country, making it ideal for stargazing.

The best time to go stargazing is the days before, during and soon after each new Moon, when there is no Moon in the sky. During these times, there is no bright Moon to wash out the light from fainter stars.

Top Places for Stargazing

While you can enjoy stargazing just about anywhere, especially when camping, these five places have unmatched night skies that will keep you looking up all night long.

The measurements revealed the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory as the darkest place on Earth, where artificial light only brightens the night sky by 2 percent.

The Cosmic Campground, New Mexico

It’s THE darkest place in the United States, located in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. The nearest source of artificial light is more than 40 miles away — making it a “must do” for stargazers.

Yes, you can, so you’re all set. Light pollution is a huge problem, but don’t let it put you off even beginning to stargaze. … From your backyard you can learn some constellations, get your bearings and begin to navigate the night sky perfectly well without worrying about light pollution.

Use red paper or cellophane to cover your white flashlight or lantern so it’s easier to see some of the dimmer constellations when you’re stargazing. Find a quiet, dark place. An empty clearing away from the light of other campsites will make for the best view of the sky.

Option #1 – Dark Sky Finder

My favorite tool is called the Dark Sky Finder at http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/ – a website that lays light pollution data over top of a Google Map.

However, it is possible to see stars during the day. First, there’s the sun, our nearest star, but observing it directly is dangerous without using the proper shields and equipment. Other individual, bright stars can be seen during daylight hours through a telescope or a really powerful pair of binoculars.

Neptune can easily be seen with either binoculars or a telescope. You’ll observe a small blue disk that shines at about magnitude 7.7. … Just like Uranus, the thrill of observing Neptune comes when you first spot it through your telescope. It lies farther from the Sun than Uranus, so Neptune moves even slower.

When you observe the night sky with your eyes, you can see the Moon, perhaps several planets, and many stars. If you are in a particularly dark location and if the moonlight is not too bright, you may also see a faint band of light that stretches from horizon to horizon.

The term night sky, usually associated with astronomy from Earth, refers to the nighttime appearance of celestial objects like stars, planets, and the Moon, which are visible in a clear sky between sunset and sunrise, when the Sun is below the horizon.