Stonelick State Park

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

The zenith sky here reads 20.75 magnitudes per square arcsecond. That is about 3.2 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.

What's up from Stonelick by season

At latitude 39.2°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 Stonelick 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 Stonelick

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

Only skim the southern horizon from Stonelick

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

Never rise from Stonelick

• 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 Stonelick

The coordinates on this page point to Stonelick Lake, at 266 m (870 ft): 39.218°N, 84.064°W.

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

Stonelick 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 Stonelick

The nearest town with motels or inns is Milford, 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 Stonelick

Star parties near Stonelick

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 Stonelick

Observatories within 100 km

• Cincinnati ObservatoryCincinnati, Ohio, 33 km (21 mi), open to the public
• Apollo ObservatoryDayton, Ohio, 65 km (40 mi), open to the public

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Cincinnati Astronomical SocietyCleves, Ohio, 58 km (36 mi)
• Miami Valley Astronomical SocietyDayton, Ohio, 69 km (43 mi). Meets Monthly general meeting Friday, 7 pm
• Stillwater StargazersTroy, Ohio, 92 km (57 mi). Meets 3rd Tuesday monthly, 7 pm
• Bluegrass Amateur Astronomy ClubLexington, Kentucky, 137 km (85 mi)
• Columbus Astronomical SocietyColumbus, Ohio, 144 km (89 mi). Meets 2nd Saturday monthly, 8 pm

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

Stonelick record

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