Clear Creek State Park

How dark the sky is at Clear Creek: Bortle Class 3, rural sky

The zenith sky here reads 21.80 magnitudes per square arcsecond. That is about 1.2 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; see every Bortle Class 3 place.

What's up from Clear Creek by season

At latitude 41.3°N, the north celestial pole stands 41° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -49° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 20° 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 Clear Creek 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 Clear Creek

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

Only skim the southern horizon from Clear Creek

• Caelum
• Centaurus
• Corona Australis
• Grus
• Lupus
• Phoenix
• Vela

Never rise from Clear Creek

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

Where to set up at Clear Creek

The coordinates on this page point to Park center (Wikipedia infobox point), at 397 m (1,300 ft): 41.323°N, 79.077°W.

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

Clear Creek among the dark sky places of Pennsylvania

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

Camping and lodging at Clear Creek

The nearest town with motels or inns is Brookville, PA. 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 Clear Creek

Star parties near Clear Creek

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Pennsylvania 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 Clear Creek

Observatories within 100 km

• Oil Region Astronomical ObservatoryVenango County, Pennsylvania, 64 km (39 mi), open to the public
• Martz-Kohl ObservatoryFrewsburg, New York, 81 km (51 mi), open to the public

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Oil Region Astronomical SocietyOil City, Pennsylvania, 53 km (33 mi)
• Starlight Astronomy ClubAltoona, Pennsylvania, 108 km (67 mi). Meets 3rd Thursday monthly, 7 pm
• Amateur Astronomers Assoc of PittsburghGlenshaw, Pennsylvania, 115 km (71 mi). Meets 2nd Friday monthly Sep-May, public lecture (see 3ap.org for venue)
• Central Pennsylvania ObserversState College, Pennsylvania, 118 km (74 mi)
• Mahoning Valley Astronomical SocietyNewton Falls, Ohio, 159 km (99 mi). Meets Last Saturday monthly: Apr-Oct 8 pm at the club observatory, Braceville; Nov-Mar 6 pm

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

Clear Creek record

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