Stargazing

When | What | Equipment | Advocacy

When

Star gazing at Crater Lake is best on nights without clouds or a full moon. On such an evening, the stars are too numerous to count. They appear so bright, that one might be tempted to lay down, and take off one's shirt to get a "star tan." Venus and the Milky Way appear to cast a shadow. By full moon, the light intensity is such that colors are discernible to the unaided eye.

The beauty of the night sky at Crater Lake is largely due to its isolation and the extensive amount of land surrounding the caldera that is preserved in a natural state.  Along with large tracts of wilderness comes a virtual absence of artificial lights allowing the pupil of the human eye to widen and become receptive to distant stars, some of which are thousands to millions of light years away. At Crater Lake there is no light pollution from nearby settlements and cities. There is no light pollution from night advertisement and local traffic.

At Crater Lake, the transparency of the night sky is enhanced by the summer climate. The humidity of the air and the frequency of cloud cover is low in the High Cascades of South-Central Oregon. The views of the night from the 7,000' elevation at Rim Village are optimum because of the low density of tree cover and the unobstructed view of the horizon is all directions created by the pre-historic collapse of Mt. Mazama.