In Search of Darkness

Abstract

Really dark skies are becoming a rarity these days. Galloway Forest Park in Scotland was officially named as the United Kingdom's first “Dark Sky Park” last week at the meeting of the International Dark-Sky Association in Phoenix, Arizona. Now there's a Web site to guide amateur astronomers. [ClearDarkSky.com][1], created by software designer Attilla Danko of Ottawa, Canada, pinpoints the best nights for viewing the sky at more than 3800 locations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The site translates forecast maps from the Canadian Meteorological Centre into diagrams showing conditions for the next 48 hours. They include hour-by-hour predictions of factors that affect viewing transparency: cloud cover, the amount of water vapor in the air, and seeing, an indicator of turbulence and atmospheric temperature differences. The site also forecasts wind, temperature, and humidity at ground level, which influences whether eyepieces and lenses will collect condensation. If your locale isn't on the list, you can nominate it. [1]: http://ClearDarkSky.com