Dark sky park pennsylvania. The state park system designated cherry springs as a dark sky park one of a small but growing number of parks around the country dedicated to preserving the night sky and offering stargazers a. The park is open every day of the year. Night sky enthusiasts flock to the park for its dark skies which are famous for great views of the milky way planets and hard to see astronomical objects and phenomena. Their mission is the protection of the dark night sky at cherry springs state park and enhancing the astronomy experience through facility improvement and educational outreach programs.
Among the massive 262000 acre susquehannock state forest the tiny unassuming cherry springs state park is surprisingly the darkest place in the eastern united states. Cherry springs state park located in coudersport pa has exceptionally dark skies with very little light pollution making it one of the darkest places on the east coast. On a clear night up to 30000 stars fill the sky and lucky guests may also glimpse asteroids venus the evening star aurora borealis the northern lights omega nebula zodiacal light meteor showers lunar viewing and the milky way and other celestial bodies. And around the world parks are achieving certification from the international dark sky association ida an organization that calls attention to light pollution.
The cherry springs rustic campground is open the second friday of april through the last weekend in october. One solution is a dark sky park. The cherry springs dark sky fundassociation is a friends group under the pennsylvania parks and forests foundation. One of the top dark sky destinations in the world and the gold level dark sky park designation from the international dark sky association to prove it cherry springs presents skies for studying gazing or gaining a better understanding of our place in the universe.
Visitors travel far and wide to the parks astronomy field which offers magnificent unobstructed 360 degree views of tens of thousands of stars and their constellations. Cherry springs state park is an 82 acre 33 ha pennsylvania state park in potter county pennsylvania united statesthe park was created from land within the susquehannock state forest and is on pennsylvania route 44 in west branch townshipcherry springs named for a large stand of black cherry trees in the park is atop the dissected allegheny plateau at an elevation of 2300 feet 701 m. Pago offers expert elk viewing tips road trips special events and more. Just outside of coudersport pennsylvania youll find star spangled cherry.
Springs state park consistently rated one of the 7 best places on the planet for stargazing.