If you need a reason to visit Boone during the 25 Oct off week then there is this.

https://dso.webconnex.com/DSOpublic102514

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote:If you need a reason to visit Boone during the 25 Oct off week then there is this.

https://dso.webconnex.com/DSOpublic102514

Is it anywhere near being truly "dark sky" as it pretty much was when it was first built?

NewApp wrote:

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote:If you need a reason to visit Boone during the 25 Oct off week then there is this.

https://dso.webconnex.com/DSOpublic102514

Is it anywhere near being truly "dark sky" as it pretty much was when it was first built?

Is is about as dark as you are going to get on the east coast and still be near a place of learning. There might be darker skies in parts of WVa and even the mtns of NC, but these places will not be near a major university.

I think most of the lights in the general area are still low in number. It is not New Mexico night sky, but it is not bad.

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote:

NewApp wrote:

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote:If you need a reason to visit Boone during the 25 Oct off week then there is this.

https://dso.webconnex.com/DSOpublic102514

Is it anywhere near being truly "dark sky" as it pretty much was when it was first built?

Is is about as dark as you are going to get on the east coast and still be near a place of learning. There might be darker skies in parts of WVa and even the mtns of NC, but these places will not be near a major university.

I think most of the lights in the general area are still low in number. It is not New Mexico night sky, but it is not bad.

That's what I suspected, Mc. I just know there are places where I have seen "stray" light from Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Hickory, Lenoir, the Wilkesboro's, etc. Just an aside, I'm sure you know that on a clear day, you can see the skyline of Charlotte from the "top" of Grandfather Mountain with the unaided eye. My 9 year old (then 8) was fascinated by that fact last July.

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote:

NewApp wrote:

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote:If you need a reason to visit Boone during the 25 Oct off week then there is this.

https://dso.webconnex.com/DSOpublic102514

Is it anywhere near being truly "dark sky" as it pretty much was when it was first built?

Is is about as dark as you are going to get on the east coast and still be near a place of learning. There might be darker skies in parts of WVa and even the mtns of NC, but these places will not be near a major university.

I think most of the lights in the general area are still low in number. It is not New Mexico night sky, but it is not bad.

We went up to DSO last summer, or maybe it was the summer before...yeah the summer before. Everyone was still getting settled into the new building but we had a nice time, and you simply can't beat the cost. Free! From my perspective it was pretty much a blackout up there, at least on that evening. I remember almost missing the turn-off from the parkway and then driving along the long gravel rode wondering if the place actually existed. We've been meaning to get back up there and see how things are coming along (walls were still quite barren and such at the time of our first visit) so maybe at some point in the next few months we will have that opportunity.

NewApp wrote:

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote:

NewApp wrote:

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote:If you need a reason to visit Boone during the 25 Oct off week then there is this.

https://dso.webconnex.com/DSOpublic102514

Is it anywhere near being truly "dark sky" as it pretty much was when it was first built?

Is is about as dark as you are going to get on the east coast and still be near a place of learning. There might be darker skies in parts of WVa and even the mtns of NC, but these places will not be near a major university.

I think most of the lights in the general area are still low in number. It is not New Mexico night sky, but it is not bad.

That's what I suspected, Mc. I just know there are places where I have seen "stray" light from Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Hickory, Lenoir, the Wilkesboro's, etc. Just an aside, I'm sure you know that on a clear day, you can see the skyline of Charlotte from the "top" of Grandfather Mountain with the unaided eye. My 9 year old (then 8) was fascinated by that fact last July.

The last time I was on Grandfather Mtn was many years ago and there was a storm down in the valley. Thunder and lightening below us..a neat perspective on a storm.