Lake Hope State Park

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

The zenith sky here reads 21.72 magnitudes per square arcsecond. That is about 1.3 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 Lake Hope by season

At latitude 39.3°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 Lake Hope 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 Lake Hope

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

Only skim the southern horizon from Lake Hope

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

Never rise from Lake Hope

• 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 Lake Hope

The coordinates on this page point to Lake Hope State Park, at 279 m (920 ft): 39.333°N, 82.351°W.

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

Lake Hope 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 Lake Hope

The nearest town with motels or inns is McArthur, 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 Lake Hope

Star parties near Lake Hope

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 Lake Hope

Observatories within 100 km

• Swasey ObservatoryGranville, Ohio, 84 km (52 mi), open to the public

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Ohio Valley Astronomical SocietyWest Virginia, 103 km (64 mi)
• Kanawha Valley Astronomical SocietyCross Lanes, West Virginia, 109 km (68 mi). Meets 3rd Friday monthly, 6 pm winter or 7 pm summer
• Columbus Astronomical SocietyColumbus, Ohio, 118 km (74 mi). Meets 2nd Saturday monthly, 8 pm
• Richland Astronomical SocietyBellville, Ohio, 143 km (89 mi). Meets Monthly meetings at Ontario library or Warren Rupp Observatory
• Wilderness Center Astronomy ClubWilmot, Ohio, 159 km (99 mi). Meets Monthly, last Friday

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

Lake Hope record

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