Shawnee National Forest

How dark the sky is at Shawnee: Bortle Class 3, rural sky

The zenith sky here reads 21.76 magnitudes per square arcsecond. That is about 1.2 times the brightness of a pristine natural sky (22.0), the extra coming from artificial light scattered in the air.

Sky brightness and class come from the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness (Falchi et al. 2016, CC BY-NC 4.0), with natural skyglow added. On the night, haze, smoke, humidity and the Moon set the real limit; see every Bortle Class 3 place.

What's up from Shawnee by season

At latitude 37.6°N, the north celestial pole stands 38° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -52° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 23° above the southern horizon. These are the constellations well placed, 35° or more above the horizon, at about 10 pm in the middle of each season, brightest first.

Showpieces from Shawnee through the year

At about 10 pm on the 15th of each month; a dash means the sight is below 25° then.

Never set from Shawnee

• Camelopardalis
• Cassiopeia
• Cepheus
• Draco
• Ursa Major
• Ursa Minor

Only skim the southern horizon from Shawnee

• Centaurus
• Grus
• Norma
• Phoenix
• Telescopium
• Vela

Never rise from Shawnee

• Apus
• Ara
• Carina
• Chamaeleon
• Circinus
• Crux
• Dorado
• Horologium
• Hydrus
• Indus
• Mensa
• Musca
• Octans
• Pavo
• Pictor
• Reticulum
• Triangulum Australe
• Tucana
• Volans

Where to set up at Shawnee

The coordinates on this page point to Garden of the Gods Wilderness, at 175 m (570 ft): 37.604°N, 88.397°W.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Open the larger map · Directions. Arrive before dark, park facing away from other observers, and use red light only.

Shawnee among the dark sky places of Illinois

Each dot is a dark sky place, colored by Bortle class; select one for its page. Diamonds are star parties. See Illinois dark sky places for the full list, darkest first.

Camping and lodging at Shawnee

The nearest town with motels or inns is Harrisburg, IL. Check the official site for campgrounds and overnight rules; many parks close their gates at night, so ask about after-dark access.

Dark sky places nearest Shawnee

Star parties near Shawnee

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Illinois puts the dark sky places, observatories, clubs, star parties, planetariums and science centers of the state on one map, with the best night out worked out.

Observatories and astronomy clubs near Shawnee

Observatories within 100 km

• Wahnsiedler ObservatoryLynnville, Indiana, 84 km (52 mi), open to the public

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Astronomical Association of Southern IllinoisCarbondale, Illinois, 63 km (39 mi). Meets 2nd Monday monthly, 6:30-8 pm
• West Kentucky Amateur AstronomersDawson Springs, Kentucky, 102 km (64 mi). Meets Monthly, 7 pm
• Evansville Astronomical SocietyLynnville, Indiana, 117 km (73 mi). Meets 3rd Friday monthly (except Jun)
• River Bend Astronomy ClubHighland, Illinois, 168 km (105 mi). Meets Meetings at Salem UCC, 1117 W North St

See observatories and astronomy clubs in Illinois. Local clubs often hold their star parties at dark sky places like this one.

Shawnee record

From the site's dark sky places dataset (parks_q426). The sky by season is computed from the coordinates.