Cottonwood Canyon State Park

How dark the sky is at Cottonwood Canyon: 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 Cottonwood Canyon by season

At latitude 45.5°N, the north celestial pole stands 45° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -45° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 16° 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 Cottonwood Canyon 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 Cottonwood Canyon

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

Only skim the southern horizon from Cottonwood Canyon

• Caelum
• Columba
• Corona Australis
• Lupus
• Microscopium

Never rise from Cottonwood Canyon

• 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 Cottonwood Canyon

The coordinates on this page point to Lone Tree campground, at 170 m (560 ft): 45.478°N, 120.472°W.

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

Cottonwood Canyon among the dark sky places of Oregon

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

Camping and lodging at Cottonwood Canyon

The nearest town with motels or inns is Condon, OR. 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 Cottonwood Canyon

Star parties near Cottonwood Canyon

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Oregon 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 Cottonwood Canyon

Observatories within 100 km

• Goldendale Observatory State ParkGoldendale, Washington, 48 km (30 mi), research observatory

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Tri-City Astronomy ClubRichland, Washington, 126 km (78 mi). Meets Usually 2nd Thursday monthly (venue on club front page)
• Rose City AstronomersPortland, Oregon, 171 km (106 mi). Meets 3rd Monday monthly, 7:30 pm

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

Cottonwood Canyon record

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