The Darkest Skies
in Minnesota

"Sky quality measurements were recorded at Little Sand Bay West Jetty in Apostle Islands NS on 9/18/2012. The site demonstrated a scientific darkness reading of 22.06 SQM."

"Mostly clear night, decent extinction, and low airglow. Some lake effect low clouds from north, slowly clearing."

"Aurora Borealis dominated the northern horizon. Milky Way was bright and detaield, visible almost horizon to horizon. Only one light dome visible from Valentine, NE but it was very small and extremely faint. Otherwise a pristine site with natural night sky conditions."

"Sky quality measurements were recorded at Heritage Center in Homestead NM on 9/27/2005. The site demonstrated a scientific darkness reading of 21.37 SQM."

"Evening cleared with high cirrus dissipating heading to clear skies overhead. Some low clouds to the west. Transparency was good early on, but some stars were fuzzy. Horizon in the south was bright with sky glow from Hibbing (?). More sky glow, but less distinct from the southeast, probably Duluth area. Milky Way was bright with defined edge. Dark lanes very visible on Cygnus region. Extended beyond Casseopia to Perseus where it breaks up. To the south, the Milky Way is lost to skyglow, which is brighter than the Sagittarius region. M33 just visible, M13 easily visible, M31 highly visible."

"Clouds but clearing. SQM 21.35. Light pollution residential and navigation bouy"

"Good visibility during the day. According to the weather record, it rained in the previous days. Duluth light dome is clearly visible. Zodiacal light is visible. Milky Way is visible overhead and to the north, and it spans about 50 degrees across the sky. M31 is moderately visible with naked eyes."