Holliday Lake State Park

How dark the sky is at Holliday Lake: 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 Holliday Lake by season

At latitude 37.4°N, the north celestial pole stands 37° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -53° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 24° 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 Holliday Lake 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 Holliday Lake

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

Only skim the southern horizon from Holliday Lake

• Centaurus
• Grus
• Norma
• Phoenix
• Telescopium
• Vela

Never rise from Holliday Lake

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

Where to set up at Holliday Lake

The coordinates on this page point to Holliday Lake area, at 180 m (590 ft): 37.397°N, 78.641°W.

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

Holliday Lake among the dark sky places of Virginia

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

Camping and lodging at Holliday Lake

The nearest town with motels or inns is Appomattox, VA. 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 Holliday Lake

Star parties near Holliday Lake

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Virginia 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 Holliday Lake

Observatories within 100 km

• Winfree ObservatoryLynchburg, Virginia, 47 km (29 mi), open to the public
• Fan Mountain ObservatoryAlbemarle County, Virginia, 54 km (33 mi), research observatory
• Leander McCormick ObservatoryCharlottesville, Virginia, 72 km (45 mi), open to the public

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Blue Ridge Astronomy ClubForest, Virginia, 57 km (35 mi). Meets Usually 4th Tuesday monthly, local public library community room in Bedford/Forest/Lynchburg area (varies)
• Charlottesville Astronomical SocietyCharlottesville, Virginia, 71 km (44 mi). Meets 1st Wednesday monthly, 7-9 pm
• Richmond Astronomical SocietyRichmond, Virginia, 105 km (65 mi). Meets 2nd Tuesday monthly, 7:30 pm
• Roanoke Valley Astronomical SocietyRoanoke, Virginia, 119 km (74 mi)
• Star City Astronomy NetworkRoanoke, Virginia, 125 km (78 mi). Meets No regular meetings; members meet at observing sessions

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

Holliday Lake record

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