The Darkest Sky Near Rochester

The best chance we have to find the darkest sky near Rochester is to head as far away from the city as possible without moving closer to another city.

Sounds logical, though not easy to achieve without a good deal of planning. If you want to get to the best possible location, head away from Monroe County.

Darkest Sky near Rochester legend — The New World Atlas of Artificial Sky Brightness

Make your next day trip a night trip

Pick a location that falls in the green-to-dark-blue category, detailed in the legend above from The New World Atlas of Artificial Sky Brightness by Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.

We used their data to determine the darkest destinations around Rochester from which to observe the Universe.

Destinations northeast of the City of Rochester close to Lake Ontario and south of US-20 in the Finger Lakes region will offer the darkest possible options to view meteor showers, stars, planets, and the Milky Way.

Specifically, if you head close to the locations below—one for each county—you’ll be under the darkest sky near Rochester.

The Sky This Week

You can all visit the RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium to see their stellar show, “The Sky Tonight” all year long. Narrated by Planetarium Director, Steve, he’ll give you a tour of the sky so you can discover what stars, planets, and other celestial bodies are in view each week.

Darkest Sky Near Rochester - Perseids star map — The Perseids courtesy of Sky and Telescope

Perseid Meteor Shower

Each August you can see the Perseid Meteor Shower just looking up, though the meteors will seem to originate from a place just beneath Cassiopeia which will be east of Rochester. It’s easier to find the ‘W’ shaped constellation than Perseus, for which the shower is named.

The best time to be out there is a few hours after sundown.

In addition, late summer is prime time for viewing the Milky Way!

Pack a lounge chair, bug repellent, and a blanket a spend a few hours gazing into the cosmos. A red flashlight can help you see, but not ruin your night vision like white light. It takes about 20 minutes to adjust our eyes to the dark, but just a few seconds of white light can ruin that.

Orion night sky early morning October — Orion – Morning Sky in October

Optimal viewing conditions

You could get really lucky waking up at the right time, or just look ahead at the cloud cover forecast to find an optimal time to observe the Universe unobstructed by cloud cover.

This photo of Orion was taken with my phone ( I was lucky to wake up at 4:45 am to a crystal, clear dark sky.) You’ll need binoculars or a telescope to see the Orion Nebula along Orion’s Sword.

These photographers thrive on finding the darkest sky near Rochester!

Hemlock Lake

A post shared by Claire Talbot (@mctmama) on Jun 16, 2018 at 6:08pm PDT

A post shared by Eric Gioe (@egioe_photo) on Jul 24, 2018 at 5:53pm PDT

Letchworth

A post shared by Joseph Morgante (@morgantephotography) on Aug 5, 2018 at 9:19am PDT

A post shared by Mary Mammoser Machnica (@sister_mooo) on Sep 27, 2017 at 2:33pm PDT

Chimney Bluffs

A post shared by Brian Ferguson (@butiwasthere) on Jul 24, 2018 at 8:57pm PDT

Allegany State Park

A post shared by Walter Lodzinski (@thebriefmomentproject) on Jul 12, 2018 at 6:40pm PDT

Find the darkest sky near Rochester

Darkest Sky near Rochester-Dark Sky Scale — This scale is called the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, first published in Sky and Telescope magazine.

If you’d like to go these locations specifically, make sure to contact them first to determine what permissions may be required, or whether gates close. You may need to spend the night camping. State Parks often host official “Star-Gazing” nights with experts.