The Darkest Skies
in New Jersey

"Site is dominated by singular glare source, a row of lights (harbor lights?) from Ocean City. Causes ground illumination, shadows, substantial scotopic hinderance when lookin gnrth. State Park lights are poor too, also causing some hinderance, but less than the harbor lights. Dry breeze from SW creating good transparency. At end of first set, LM=6.8 at zenith, seeing somewhat unsteady, transparency good. Magnitude 6.6 is easy, 6.8 achieved with seriours effort."

"Not too much detail but M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) was visible to the naked eye and overall this night sky provides good opportunities for public observing. The light dome from the greaer Washington D.C. area on over to Baltimore extended about 30° above the horizon. Norfolk Virginia was visible to about 20° above the horizon and Salisbury and Ocean City were easily visible to the east. The lights of Cambridge and Easton illuminated a few remaining clouds to the NNE. SQM zenith brightness reading of 20.59."

"Sky quality measurements were recorded at Meadow south of Church House in Hopewell Furnace NHS on 8/16/2014. The site demonstrated a scientific darkness reading of 19.87 SQM."

"Seeing very good, transparency fair. Very humid, dew on the grass. No part of the sky is dark, a gradient of sky brightness from horizon to zenith. The sky is grayish white, near the NYC and Newark light dome some peach color seen. Very bright near the horizon, which is actually at least 10 degrees above the true horizon. The site is in a "hollow" and has tall trees all around, so the brightest parts of light domes are masked. No distinct "domes" are seen, the sky is bright all around except toward the west, which looks dark by comparison. It is therefore impossible to attribute light pollution to any individual city. The Milky Way is not at the zenith at this time of the year, but even late when the summer Milky Way is higher it is invisible. Near the zenith there are some features, the Coma cluster is seen as 10-12 stars, the form of Ursa Major and Leo are readily seen, but anything below 60 degrees above the horizon is severely compromised. The land is well illuminated, navigation easy unless you are looking toward New York and Newark, where the light of the sky produces glare. Estimate about 1/4 of scoptopic vision is lost, unless looking at the eastern sky, which is much brighter. Bortle Class 7, could be 6 later on if it gets a bit darker."