Harrison Bay State Park

How dark the sky is at Harrison Bay: Bortle Class 5, suburban sky

The zenith sky here reads 20.36 magnitudes per square arcsecond. That is about 4.5 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 Harrison Bay by season

At latitude 35.2°N, the north celestial pole stands 35° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -55° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 26° 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 Harrison Bay 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 Harrison Bay

• Camelopardalis
• Cassiopeia
• Cepheus
• Draco
• Ursa Minor

Only skim the southern horizon from Harrison Bay

• Centaurus
• Grus
• Horologium
• Norma
• Phoenix
• Pictor
• Telescopium
• Vela

Never rise from Harrison Bay

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

Where to set up at Harrison Bay

The coordinates on this page point to Park center (Wikipedia infobox point), at 200 m (660 ft): 35.176°N, 85.119°W.

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

Harrison Bay among the dark sky places of Tennessee

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

Camping and lodging at Harrison Bay

The nearest town with motels or inns is Chattanooga, TN. 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 Harrison Bay

Star parties near Harrison Bay

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Tennessee 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 inside Harrison Bay, and astronomy clubs nearby

• Clarence T. Jones ObservatoryOpen to the public. UTC public lesson and viewing nights several times a year Oct-Apr, star parties and solstice seminars

Observatories within 100 km

• Puckett Observatorynear Ellijay, Georgia, 73 km (45 mi), research observatory
• Cordell-Lorenz ObservatorySewanee, Tennessee, 73 km (45 mi), open to the public
• Tamke-Allan ObservatoryRoane County, Tennessee, 86 km (54 mi), open to the public

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Barnard Astronomical SocietyChattanooga, Tennessee, 21 km (13 mi). Meets Monthly, 6 pm social
• ORIONOak Ridge, Tennessee, 121 km (75 mi). Meets Monthly Wednesday, 7 pm
• Von Braun Astronomical SocietyHuntsville, Alabama, 141 km (88 mi)
• Knoxville Observers Astronomy ClubKnoxville, Tennessee, 142 km (88 mi)
• Georgia Tech Astronomy ClubAtlanta, Georgia, 159 km (99 mi)

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

Harrison Bay record

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