By Joel Crabtree & Mary Pols
From our November 2024 issue
John Meader runs a company called Northern Stars Planetarium, traveling around the midcoast and central Maine with an inflatable-dome star theater, for educational programming at schools, public libraries, and other groups. But his greatest passion is the genuine article, the real night sky. Roughly 80 percent of North America has lost its view of the Milky Way, but Maine is home to some of the darkest nights east of the Mississippi, and our galaxy can be glimpsed from almost anywhere around the state. “When you always have a dark sky, you take it for granted.” says Meader, who’s also a member of Dark Sky Maine, a nonprofit that advocates for measures to curb light pollution. Stargazing, Meader says, encourages humans to contemplate the big picture. He hears the same questions from both elementary-school kids and septuagenarian land-trust members, questions such as: “What came before the big bang? How did the big bang happen? Is there life out there?”
The great existential threat to darkness is artificial lighting. The major culprits, says Tom Reinert, president of the nonprofit DarkSky International, are publicly funded infrastructure such as street lights and stadium lights. Maine, with its rural, woodsy character, hasn’t suffered the same fate as in places with big urban centers and sprawling populations, but relatively simple measures can help to preserve and improve the view of the night sky, Reinert says. His organization recommends shielding outdoor lighting to direct it downward, rethinking where and when lights need to be turned on, and modulating the intensity and color of lights (warmer tones are preferable to bright white). He often hears concerns that minimizing light pollution will mean plunging residents into darkness. “We’re not against lighting, we’re in favor of smart lighting,” he says. “With almost all lighting, you can get the job done with substantially less intrusion on the environment.”
DarkSky International confers various designations to places with pristine night skies and to communities that have taken comprehensive measures to mitigate light pollution. To date, two parts of Maine have achieved Dark Sky designation: Appalachian Mountain Club’s expansive lands around the 100 Mile Wilderness and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Plus, a handful of communities have adopted measures to tamp down light pollution, from Mount Desert Island towns to Harpswell to York. The Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust is working to get Rangeley a Dark Sky Community designation, seeing the benefit of having that award to bring stargazers to the region. “There is an increasing appreciation for the benefits of astro-tourism,” says David Stein, who’s helping lead the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust initiative. And Stein sees even broader possibilities for the region. “There is naturally a dark sky between Rangeley and the Canadian border,” he says. “If we could make the entire western Maine a Dark Sky Reserve, that would be pretty extraordinary.”
Last year, Maine House representative Laurie Osher put forward a bill to regulate outdoor lighting fixtures across the state, requiring that new and replacement fixtures be designed to limit unnecessary emissions of light. The idea for the bill stemmed from intense LED lighting that was installed in Orono, where Osher lives. Though the town was doing the right thing from an energy-savings perspective, she felt light pollution should factor into the equation too. The bill failed to gain enough traction, but Osher says she intends to rework and reintroduce it.
Light pollution impacts other species too, often in fatal ways, disorienting birds, bats, insects, plankton, and many others. Meanwhile, a human relationship to the night sky has been around as long as . . . humans. Meader sees in that relationship something essential. “It’s great to be out there looking at the stars, pondering,” Meader says. “It just makes you appreciate your own life in a different way.” — Joel Crabtree
Astronomy 101
Before you head out, here are a few things you need to know.
Light the Way
If you want to outfit your home with exterior lighting that’s night-sky friendly, the nonprofit DarkSky International keeps a registry of DarkSky Approved fixtures for residential and commercial properties. Even if you don’t replace existing fixtures, other measures can help limit light pollution: only turn on lights when necessary, for instance, and use warmer-toned bulbs. If you want to find out what else you can do to support education and advocacy around dark skies in Maine, check out the nonprofit Dark Sky Maine.
Common-Sense Stuff
- Pack extra layers when going out at night.
- Bring a blanket, mat, beach chair, or something else comfy to lay back on.
- Carry a flashlight or wear a headlamp, preferably with a red-light function, which won’t interfere with your night vision the way bright white does.
Scope Things Out
Stargazing with the naked eye, taking in the shimmering night sky in its entirety, is its own type of pleasure. But if you want to peer deeper into the universe, you’ll need a telescope. Buying one will set you back at least a few hundred bucks (and possibly many times that, depending on your ambitions and pocket depth). Fortunately, dozens of libraries around Maine now lend telescopes the same way they lend books. Check with your local library, or consult the state-by-state listings at librarytelescope.org. Alternatively, a pair of binoculars — basically just two little telescopes bound together — will help the stars feel a little closer too.
Visit a Dark Sky Park
DarkSky International has designated more than 200 locations around the world as Dark Sky places — a mix of natural spaces with high-quality dark skies and towns and cities that have made commendable efforts to curb light pollution. Only two of those places are in New England, and both of them happen to be in Maine. The Appalachian Mountain Club’s Maine Woods International Dark Sky Park spans more than 5,000 square miles, from the 100 Mile Wilderness to the Canadian border. Stargazers can find accommodations in and around Monson and Greenville or might consider staying at one of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s three wilderness lodges within the Maine Woods Dark Sky Park. At the lodges, little more is required to stargaze than stepping out the door.
Visit a Dark Sky Sanctuary
According to Dark Sky International, the difference between a dark-sky sanctuary and a dark-sky park is that a sanctuary is more remote and faces fewer nearby threats from light pollution. How much more remote Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is than the Appalachian Mountain Club’s dark-sky park is debatable, but it nonetheless landed designation as a sanctuary. For the most part, that’s a distinction without a difference. Both places are exceptional expanses of forest with a surfeit of impeccably dark skies. Camping options abound in and around Katahdin Woods and Waters, and a number of lodges and cabin rentals are in the area too. Mt. Chase Lodge, in particular, is a good choice. The hearty dinners served there will stick with you through the stargazing hours.
Find a Dark Sky Close to You
Baxter State Park area and the north woods, Mount Desert Island and the whole down east region, quiet islands and the peninsulas . . . wherever you are in the state, you’re never far from a relatively pristine night sky. Stargazing here is a remarkably accessible pursuit that doesn’t really require advance planning or overnight accommodations somewhere far-flung.
Party with the Stars
Whether you’re new to stargazing and want some veteran guidance or you just enjoy combining starry nights with socializing and learning, you might consider attending one of the night-sky parties that have become fixtures of Maine summers and falls. The Stars over Katahdin Party takes place at the Patten Lumbermen’s Museum, with live music, campfire chats with astronomers, and guided star viewings through high-end telescopes. The weeklong See the Dark Festival at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Medawisla Lodge hosts presentations (free to lodge guests), special dinners, and lots of stargazing. And the Blue Hill Peninsula Night Sky Festival adds in some film screenings and nighttime boating. Look for 2025 dates to start being announced in the spring.
An Aura of Aurora
Excitement about the Northern Lights is in the air.
One night this past May, the night sky lit up with epic displays of the aurora borealis over Maine, the result of charged particles from solar storms getting drawn toward Earth’s poles and crashing into the atmosphere. The more particles emitted by the sun, the more likely the aurora will appear this far south of its usual range. Then, one night in August, the Maine Aurora Borealis Watch Facebook page, more than 41,000 sleep-deprived members strong, lit up. One of the page’s administrators, John Reichert, had been keeping tabs on the complex conditions that will produce the aurora, and he recommended getting outside. Mainers started posting photos from around the state. It was too cloudy around Katahdin, in the heart of Maine’s darkest dark skies, but from a wide range of other places — Kennebunk, Gorham, China, Jackman — came photos showing the northern lights. Sometimes, the effect was faint, as if the Big Dipper was smudged with a dried-out pink marker. Other times, the colors were gloriously vivid, like the pink pillars captured by someone in Canton.
With the aurora making unusually strong appearances in Maine, that particular Facebook group grew by leaps and bounds over the past year. The reason the aurora has been visible at lower latitudes is because the sun is presently in what’s known as solar maximum, when its polarity reverses. Scientists know that this cycle runs roughly every 11 years but don’t entirely understand why. Shawn Laatsch, director of the University of Maine’s Versant Power Astronomy Center, says to think of the phenomenon as the sun essentially “twisting itself up” to reverse its magnetic fields, resulting in powerful bursts of solar particles. Solar maximum, which began its peak period in July, is expected to end in January.
“Now is a good time to keep an eye out,” Laatsch says. And the easiest way to keep an eye out is to join a Facebook group like the one Reichert, a self-taught authority on the aurora, helps run. Some apps, too, are good for northern-lights forecasting, such as My Aurora and SpaceWeatherLive. When the time is right, head somewhere dark and cloudless, with a clear view of the northern horizon (cameras on a night setting are more sensitive than our eyes and can help reveal whether the aurora is dancing). Flexibility and optimism go a long way as well — the aurora is hard to predict, and the latitudes from which it’s visible depend on both its force and its celestial height. For catching the northern lights, Maine is no Iceland, say, but the time is certainly right. “This solar cycle has been amazing,” Reichert says, “And with the activity reaching Maine, it is incredible how many people have gained an appreciation for the night sky in general.” — Mary Pols
Check out our Stargazer’s Guide to Maine for tips on where to best view the cosmos, how to photograph the night sky, and more.
