Texas has plenty of dark-sky sites to stargaze

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Stargazing is one of the best aspects of going to state parks in Texas. Away from the bright lights of our cities and towns, the rest of the galaxy can come into focus.

The International Dark-Sky Association has promoted night sky conservation and environmentally responsible outdoor lighting since 1988. Parks, communities, and nature reserves can achieve various degrees of International Dark Sky Park certification through the IDA’s Dark Sky Places Program.

Skies are graded on the nine-level numeric Bortle scale, created in 2001 by astronomer John E. Bortle. Class 1 is an “excellent dark-sky site;” Class 9 is a typical inner-city sky. Houston’s sprawl means that suburban dwellers can see more stars than some, but our lighting leaves something to be desired.

Most Houston suburbs could be classified between Class 4, 5, and 6, between rural/suburban and bright suburban skies. You can make out the Little Dipper and Big Dipper but probably not much else.

A handful of Texas parks have earned coveted dark-sky ratings which they can tout to potential visiting stargazers.

Big Bend Ranch State Park, seen here, has been classified as a Class 1 park due to it's clear skies at night which make stargazing there extra special. Big Bend Ranch State Park, seen here, has been classified as a Class 1 park due to it's clear skies at night which make stargazing there extra special. Photo: handout Photo: handout Image 1 of / 62 Caption Close Texas has plenty of dark-sky sites to stargaze 1 / 62 Back to Gallery

These are parks where you can see constellations and heavenly bodies. They are a great way to show youngsters the vastness of space, and if you are so inclined, take extremely pretty photos.

This month Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine’s Rob McCorkle wrote about the movement here in Texas to create more “dark-sky” areas.

“More Texas state parks are attempting to attain dark sky certification, which requires efforts to limit lighting and offer public education along with starry skies,” writes McCorkle. That means that man-made light is limited past dusk, and some have installed shields to keep light from spilling into the sky. Audits are done by dark-sky specialists to see how a park or site rates on the scale.

According to McCorkle, Copper Breaks State Park and Enchanted Rock State Natural Area were among the first state parks to receive International Dark Sky Park status by the IDA, earning Gold Tier night sky ratings. Big Bend National Park and the city of Dripping Springs are the only other Texas locales to snag Dark Sky Places recognition.

Big Bend has installed lighting fixtures to make the park as dark as possible.

“State parks still offer Texans a dark preserve in which to experience the night skies as our ancestors enjoyed them thousands of years ago,” said Chris Holmes, TPWD’s interpretive program leader, in McCorkle’s piece.

So far 20 state parks have received dark-sky assessments, and 20 more have entered that process. The goal is to assess all of Texas’ 95 state parks, natural areas and historic sites, writes McCorkle.

Class 2 locations in Texas include Kickapoo Cavern State Park, Balmorhea State Park, and Devil’s Sinkhole State Natural Area. Class 3 parks include Lost Maples State Natural Area and Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.

Closer to Houston, Brazos Bend State Park in Needville has George Observatory on site if you prefer some technological help stargazing.

Battleship Texas State Historic Site and San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site both have a Class 9 score on the Bortles scale, which makes sense considering they are adjacent to the Houston Ship Channel. Plenty of other Texas parks and sites sport 4.5 and 5 Bortle scores.

Other places that have earned excellent dark-sky status include Death Valley National Park in California, The Grand Canyon National Monument, and Pic du Midi de Bigorre in France.