Jackson Lake State Park

How dark the sky is at Jackson Lake: Bortle Class 4, rural and suburban transition

The zenith sky here reads 21.41 magnitudes per square arcsecond. That is about 1.7 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.

What's up from Jackson Lake by season

At latitude 38.9°N, the north celestial pole stands 39° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -51° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 22° 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 Jackson Lake 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 Jackson Lake

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

Only skim the southern horizon from Jackson Lake

• Centaurus
• Grus
• Lupus
• Phoenix
• Telescopium
• Vela

Never rise from Jackson Lake

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

Where to set up at Jackson Lake

The coordinates on this page point to Jackson Lake State Park, at 260 m (850 ft): 38.899°N, 82.601°W.

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

Jackson Lake among the dark sky places of Ohio

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

Camping and lodging at Jackson Lake

The nearest town with motels or inns is Jackson, OH. 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 Jackson Lake

Star parties near Jackson Lake

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Ohio 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 Jackson Lake

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Ohio Valley Astronomical SocietyWest Virginia, 56 km (35 mi)
• Kanawha Valley Astronomical SocietyCross Lanes, West Virginia, 90 km (56 mi). Meets 3rd Friday monthly, 6 pm winter or 7 pm summer
• Columbus Astronomical SocietyColumbus, Ohio, 155 km (96 mi). Meets 2nd Saturday monthly, 8 pm
• Miami Valley Astronomical SocietyDayton, Ohio, 172 km (107 mi). Meets Monthly general meeting Friday, 7 pm
• Stillwater StargazersTroy, Ohio, 187 km (116 mi). Meets 3rd Tuesday monthly, 7 pm

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

Jackson Lake record

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