About Potter County
Stargazing Tours
Once a night we offer a Stargazing Tour during the darkest periods each month from March to November. The open dates on our booking calendar reflect these times to book a tour, although tours may need to be canceled or rescheduled due to rain or cloud cover.
Our stargazing tour is approximately 120 minutes long with the first half of the Night Sky Tour consisting of a laser-guided tour of the constellations. Beginning in the northern area of the sky and continuing on in a complete circle, we will explore the most common constellations. Under clear skies we should easily be able to view and identify 15-20 constellations during the tour. We provide descriptions and stories about these night sky patterns in a manner that is suitable for all ages. The second half of the program consists of viewing Deep Space Objects (DSO’s) such as planets, galaxies, nebulae, open and globular clusters. We use a telescope in combination with a video camera specifically designed for astronomical viewing. The full-color images of the Deep Space Objects will be projected in real time on video monitors.
Best time of year to Stargaze?
This depends on what you're interested in and want to see! But anytime you have clear skies, it’s a good time to be outside enjoying the wonder of the heavens above.
Spring is a good time to catch the last views of the winter constellations, the Orion Nebula and to view distant galaxies.
Summer, starting in the middle of July the distinct bands of the Milky Way galaxy begin to appear. The constellations in the southern sky Sagittarius and Scorpius lead us to the galactic center.
Autumn gives us the finest views of our closest neighbor in space, the Andromeda Galaxy.
Remember - The best time for stargazing is when there is little to no interference with reflected light from the moon.
