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.
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.
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.
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 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.
"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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
Readit News
> 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...
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).
Um, can you explain this bit?
https://boingboing.net/2021/10/18/the-story-of-hawaiis-invis...
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.
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.
So I have to take a boat to get there?