The Darkest Skies
in Alaska

"This is the second consecutive night at this site on the frozen surface of Telaquana Lake about 150 yds out from the ranger cabin on the shoreline. The first night the clouds would not clear and the NexStar mouhnt seemed to freeze up (perhaps the gear grease cannot handle the cold temps) after the first set. This second night the skies cleared nicely with only a few clouds to the west. the temps also dropped significantly, with a low of -8° F by early morning. There is absolutely no artificial light anywhere within 50+ miles of this site. Was hoping to see if Anchorage light dome would be visible 150 miles away, but found out city was under clouds and snowfall. Comet Panstarrs was visible next to M31 with the naked eye. Great difficulty in functioning in the sub-zero temps on the frozen lake surface. Northpoint script would not complete until at least the 7th try! All wires were frozen stiff and the GPS, Kestrel, and laser pointer all had trouble working in the cold (needed to remove and warm betteries). Too cold to spend much time observing night sky as I needed to keep moving. Milky Way not visible until later in the night. After 2nd set, the motor on the NexStar would not slew properly. Allignment of images from that point on were way off, though script collected all the way through. Even with the absolute absence of anthropogenic light, the details in the sky were not as visible as some sights in the southwest US. There is likely a high reflectance of star light off the frozen lake and surrounding snow covered landscape that is mixing with the frozen atmosphere to inhibit crystal clear sky viewing and increasing extinction values."

"Site at Mt. Healy, at local midnight few clouds just along the horizon to the north, otherwise clear. Unshielded light from Healy coal mine plant as bright as crescent moon, illuminate landscape, affect night vision significantly. Auroral band centered on the magnetic pole in an arc, not particularly bright but will corrupt measurements of sky glow, extends to 15 degrees above horizon. Twilight not disappearing, even after so-called astronomical twilight ends, must be Zodiacal light "leaking" over the northern horizon as the sun passes under the earth at a shallow angle. Sky dark and clear, excellent contrast in Milky Way, low airglow up there, Cassiopeia seen is fantastic detail as it is near overhead. Hazy in afternoon. Some other unshielded lights about 30 miles away beyond Healy, glow from Anchorage not seen at all visually. Aurora brightening through second set. Class 3, ZLM 6.8. Clouds increasing to the east as night progresses. 1st set best."

"Site at summit of Peak 5109 Tokosha Mtns. At 11PM many clouds present, lights from Trapper Creek? direct glare, couple dozen pretty bright lights, aircraft beacon from Talkeetna, small light dome 4 degrees wide and high, presumably Anchorage Wasilla, easy to see but much dimmer than Jupiter, integrated mag 1st or 2nd, nothing serious. 1st set 30% clouds at start. Excellent sky overhead, Cygnus star cloud very detailed as is northern Coal Sack. At 2 AM sky is relatively free of clouds, Milky Way is straight across the sky east to west at this latitude, airglow blob and small auroras to northeast at Gemini, clouds along the horizon over Alaska Range, east, and stratocumulus over Achorage. 4th set best. Seeing fair, transparency good but moisture in the air to south and east, Bortle Class 2, ZLM 6.6 easily but seeing interferes with long observations. Light dome of Anchorage 6-8 degrees wide, 6 degrees tall, 10-12 degrees left of Anchorage a very faint light dome, very distant."

"Set up on the southern most islet of Keyes Point. There is 50% snow cover and the exposed ground is frozen. Excellent location from which to image Port Alsworth, Nondalton, Illiamna, and the Pebble Mine site. Some low clouds in the early eveningto the south, but skies eventually claring everywhere. There is moderate airglow and high extinction, but seeing is good. Comet Panstarrs is visible to the north with the naked eye immediately to the right of M31. No aurora visible and humidity levels are fairly low. There are no visible lights (or domes) anywhere along the horizon that can be seen with the naked eye. Polaris is up at 60°+ above the horizon and the Milky Way is still below the horizon at the start of the first set."

"Site on a large pullout on Park Road, paved, good setup but horizons quite blocked north and south. Bright aurora and high clouds produce poor data quality. Clear spots near the zenith allow some visual observations, but difficult to assess sky quality. Almost no evidence of aritificial sky glow, only a slight glow along the horizon from the Denali gateway area."

"Site in parking lot of Railroad station, unshielded lights at depot interfere. Bright auroral ring to north prevents accurate sky glow measures. Still excellent dark sky at zenith."

"Set up 100' off road from the Park entrance sign in a clearing of small trees in the muskeg. Perfectly clear night but aurora was readily visble at end of astronomical twilight to the north and northeast. No visible light domes from either Gustavus or the more distant Juneau. The Milky Way was easily visble overhead but faded into the brightening aurora to the north. Daytime visibility was 100 miles + while flying in to Gustavus earlier in the afternoon. Was able to see 12 stars in the Pleadies naked eye. Stars visible to the horizon in all areas except where the aurora was present. Frost was quick to coat all of the equipment. SQM reading of 21.63."

"Set up camera system in the frozen muskeg along the Sitka Cross Trail. A nice open locatiaon with no direct glare and a good panorama of the Sitka light dome. Sky glow from Sitka was fairly bright and, along with the heavy moist air, night sky observations were moderately impacted. The Milky Way was barely visible to the naked eye and the light dome from Sitka appeared to rise to at least 30 degrees above the horizon with a width of 90 degrees or so. Even with this local brightening of the sky this is a fairly nice location to experience the nighttime environment free from the direct glare and light trespass found throughout the community. Heavy frost was present almost immediately after astronomical twilight."