dark skyDispatch
Free Guide

Everyone should stand under a truly dark sky once. Let me show you where yours is.

Most people have never seen truly dark skies, the kind where the Milky Way is bright enough to cast a shadow. I've spent ten years searching for those places in all fifty states and some of the darkest corners of the world. This free guide turns that into a drive you could make this month.

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What's in the guide

  • The map trick. How to read a light pollution map so you can spot a genuinely dark pocket instead of just driving until the glow fades.
  • The Bortle scale, in plain English. What each level actually looks like with your own eyes, so you know what you're driving toward.
  • How far you really need to go. Usually less than you'd guess: often 45 to 90 minutes, roughly 40 to 80 miles (65 to 130 km) from a mid-sized city.
  • Timing it right. Moon phase matters more than distance. Get this wrong and a Bortle 2 sky looks like a Bortle 5.
  • What to bring, and what to skip. A short honest list. You need less gear than the internet tells you.
The Milky Way rising over a lake at Lassen Volcanic National Park
Lassen Volcanic National Park, California Bortle 2
Green and magenta aurora over snow-covered mountains in Lapland, Norway
Lapland, Norway Bortle 2
The Milky Way core over silhouetted trees on Mauna Kea, Hawaii
Mauna Kea, Hawai'i Bortle 1
80%

of North Americans live under skies too bright to see the Milky Way. Most have never seen it at all.

Ten years of chasing the dark

Since 2016 I've been going wherever the sky is still black.

2016 Chasing dark
skies since
50 States,
every one
6 Continents
so far
  • Easter Island
  • Lapland
  • Mauna Kea
  • Maldives
  • All 50 states

I'm Daniel. Since 2016 I've been chasing dark skies for a living and for love of it: Easter Island in the South Pacific, the deep winter dark above Lapland, the summit air on Mauna Kea, the Milky Way doubled in the water off the Maldives. And every single one of the fifty states, because the good stuff is a lot closer to home than people assume.

The famous places are worth the flight, but almost nobody needs one to see the Milky Way. What most people need is to know where to point the car and which night to go.

Ready to see it for yourself?

Grab the guide and find your nearest dark sky tonight.

Get my free guide