Ottawa National Forest

How dark the sky is at Ottawa: Bortle Class 2, typical truly dark site

The zenith sky here reads 21.96 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 Ottawa by season

At latitude 46.2°N, the north celestial pole stands 46° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -44° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 15° 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 Ottawa 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 Ottawa

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

Only skim the southern horizon from Ottawa

• Antlia
• Caelum
• Columba
• Corona Australis
• Lupus
• Microscopium
• Puppis

Never rise from Ottawa

• 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 Ottawa

The coordinates on this page point to Ottawa NF (Wikipedia reference point), at 500 m (1,640 ft): 46.230°N, 88.950°W.

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

Ottawa among the dark sky places of Michigan

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

Camping and lodging at Ottawa

The nearest town with motels or inns is Watersmeet, MI. 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 Ottawa

Star parties near Ottawa

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Michigan 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 Ottawa

Nearest astronomy clubs

• Northwoods Explorers of Space & AstronomyMinocqua, Wisconsin, 74 km (46 mi)
• Marquette Astronomical SocietyMarquette, Michigan, 121 km (75 mi)
• Door Peninsula Astronomical SocietySturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, 197 km (122 mi). Meets Astronomy Campus, Crossroads at Big Creek

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

Ottawa record

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