Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

How dark the sky is at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness: Bortle Class 2, typical truly dark site

The zenith sky here reads 21.98 magnitudes per square arcsecond. That is as dark as a natural sky gets: almost all the glow comes from airglow and starlight, not lamps.

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 2 place.

What's up from Porcupine Mountains Wilderness by season

At latitude 46.8°N, the north celestial pole stands 47° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -43° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 14° 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 Porcupine Mountains Wilderness 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 Porcupine Mountains Wilderness

• Camelopardalis
• Cassiopeia
• Cepheus
• Draco
• Lacerta
• Lynx
• Perseus
• Ursa Major
• Ursa Minor

Only skim the southern horizon from Porcupine Mountains Wilderness

• Antlia
• Caelum
• Columba
• Corona Australis
• Lupus
• Microscopium
• Puppis

Never rise from Porcupine Mountains Wilderness

• Apus
• Ara
• Carina
• Centaurus
• Chamaeleon
• Circinus
• Crux
• Dorado
• Grus
• Horologium
• Hydrus
• Indus
• Mensa
• Musca
• Norma
• Octans
• Pavo
• Phoenix
• Pictor
• Reticulum
• Telescopium
• Triangulum Australe
• Tucana
• Vela
• Volans

Where to set up at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness

The coordinates on this page point to Lake of the Clouds (overlook above the lake), at 400 m (1,310 ft): 46.804°N, 89.752°W.

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

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness among the dark sky places of Michigan

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

Camping and lodging at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness

The nearest town with motels or inns is Silver City, MI. 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 Porcupine Mountains Wilderness

Star parties near Porcupine Mountains Wilderness

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Michigan 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 Porcupine Mountains Wilderness

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Northwoods Explorers of Space & AstronomyMinocqua, Wisconsin, 104 km (64 mi)
• Marquette Astronomical SocietyMarquette, Michigan, 177 km (110 mi)

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

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness record

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