Allegheny National Forest

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

The zenith sky here reads 21.83 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 Allegheny by season

At latitude 41.7°N, the north celestial pole stands 42° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -48° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 19° 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 Allegheny 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 Allegheny

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

Only skim the southern horizon from Allegheny

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

Never rise from Allegheny

• 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 Allegheny

The coordinates on this page point to Forest center (Wikipedia infobox point), at 560 m (1,840 ft): 41.653°N, 79.035°W.

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

Allegheny 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 Allegheny

The nearest town with motels or inns is Warren, 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 Allegheny

Star parties near Allegheny

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 Allegheny

Observatories within 100 km

• Martz-Kohl ObservatoryFrewsburg, New York, 45 km (28 mi), open to the public
• Oil Region Astronomical ObservatoryVenango County, Pennsylvania, 72 km (45 mi), open to the public

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Oil Region Astronomical SocietyOil City, Pennsylvania, 60 km (37 mi)
• Buffalo Astronomical AssociationNorth Java, New York, 128 km (79 mi)
• Central Pennsylvania ObserversState College, Pennsylvania, 138 km (86 mi)
• Starlight Astronomy ClubAltoona, Pennsylvania, 139 km (86 mi). Meets 3rd Thursday monthly, 7 pm
• Amateur Astronomers Assoc of PittsburghGlenshaw, Pennsylvania, 146 km (91 mi). Meets 2nd Friday monthly Sep-May, public lecture (see 3ap.org for venue)

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

Allegheny record

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