Went to Cherry Springs last weekend and the moon ruined everything

Everyone raves about Cherry Springs State Park for dark skies. I finally drove 4 hours to get there. Got set up around 9pm. Then the moon came up. Bright as a streetlight. Could barely see the Milky Way. I get that it's a dark sky place but nobody talks about how bad moon phase matters. I checked later it was 80% illuminated. Felt like I wasted the trip. Why does nobody mention that in the posts about this place?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_hayes716d ago

Moon phase is literally the first thing you check before any astronomy trip. Cherry Springs doesn't hide it, the whole point is being in a dark sky zone which means you gotta do your homework. Blaming the park because you didn't look up a moon calendar for 30 seconds is kinda on you. TimeAndDate.com or just Google it takes two minutes. Next time aim for a new moon window or even a crescent and you'll see why people actually hype that place up.

blairj556d ago

Man that stinks. 80% moon might as well be a Walmart parking lot light. I always check moon phase on TimeAndDate.com before I drive anywhere now - learned that lesson the hard way at a "dark sky" spot in New Mexico where I showed up during a full moon and saw nothing but my own shadow. Cherry Springs is legit when the moon's down though, I went during a new moon last fall and the Milky Way looked like someone spilled glitter across the sky.