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This is what a light bulb costs you
The same patch of sky, from the middle of a city to the middle of nowhere. Astronomers grade darkness on the nine-step Bortle scale. Slide it and watch the stars come back.
0 stars in this patch of sky.
Right now
What tonight looks like
The moon
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Next meteor shower
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The Milky Way
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Moon phase is calculated in your browser and is accurate to within a few hours. Shower peaks are the usual annual dates.
Plan a trip
A year in the sky over Amargosa
January
Quadrantids peak on the 3rd, and they are one of the strongest showers of the year. Bitterly clear nights. Orion is straight overhead after dinner.
February
The galactic core creeps back before dawn. Orion, Sirius and the winter Milky Way still own the early evening.
March
Long dark evenings, no shower to speak of, and the core rising late. A good month for just looking.
April
Lyrids peak on the 22nd. The Milky Way core is up in the early hours and climbing earlier every week.
May
Eta Aquariids on the 5th, left over from Halley’s Comet. Core season properly begins.
June
Shortest nights of the year, but the core is up by midnight and the air is warm enough to lie out for hours.
July
The core is high and bright by 11pm. Arguably the best month of the year out here.
August
Perseids on the 12th, about 100 an hour, with the Milky Way overhead at the same time. If you come once, come now.
September
Warm nights, the core setting earlier each evening, and the Andromeda Galaxy climbing into view.
October
Orionids on the 21st. The core is gone by mid-evening; the winter constellations start their run.
November
Leonids on the 17th. Long, cold, extremely clear nights. Pleiades high overhead.
December
Geminids on the 14th — up to 150 an hour and the best shower of the year. Ursids follow on the 22nd.
Try it now
Thirty minutes changes everything
Your eyes need about half an hour in the dark before they are working properly. Most people give up after five minutes and never find out what they were missing. Start the clock next time you are outside.
Where to stand
You do not have to go far
Wherever you parked
This is the part visitors do not believe. You do not need a viewpoint or a trailhead. Step away from the nearest yard light, let your eyes adjust, and look up. That is the whole trick.
Big Dune
About five square miles of open sand managed by the BLM, with dunes rising around 500 feet and nothing tall in any direction. Camping is allowed up to 14 days.
Death Valley, next door
A Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park since 2013. The Park Service points people at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Harmony Borax Works, Ubehebe Crater and Badwater Basin, and reminds you that summer nights can still sit above 100°F.
The best night sky you will ever see is a two-hour drive from Las Vegas
Pick a week around the new moon, bring a chair, and give your eyes half an hour. That is all it takes.