xzzy posted:

Good luck with that in Chicagoland! As someone that struggled with it for years, a list of my favorite dark spots within driving distance of the city, sorted by quality of the skies:

Nachusa Grasslands (1 hour)
Weinberg-King State Fish and Wildlife Area (4 hours)
Hogback Prairie SNA, Wisconsin (4 hours)
Tettegouche State Park, Minnesota (8 hours)
Nebraska Natioanal Forest at Halsey (11 hours)

Note that the importance of darkness depends on the angle of your shooting. If you want the horizon in frame, light domes from cities can be annoying. But if you know what direction you're shooting you can work around it, like lots of places on the north shore of the Michigan's upper peninsula are extremely dark if you're shooting north.

If you're shooting straight up you can get away with more light pollution.


Start planning for the perseids because it's going to be a decent year for it, the moon will be below horizon during the peak.