With the full moon lighting up the Butler night sky I realize that this week is probably not the appropriate time to write about observing in dark skies, but I wanted to give you some stargazing food for planning ahead.

If you’re an avid amateur astronomer as I am, you know what I’m talking about. You like to do your best observing with your telescope or your best astrophotography in the darkest place you can find.

Most of the time we have to settle, because the reality is to make a living and/or not live the life of a hermit we have to live in a place with artificial night light to some degree or another. Light pollution is something we have to live with.

As I’ve told you many times in the almost 20-year history of writing this column there’s still a lot of stargazing to be enjoyed even in the light pollution, unless it gets too out of hand!

I don’t like to get negative, but it’s sad that so many people, especially kids, have never seen the full extent of the glorious night sky because of varying degrees of light pollution.

I’m not for going back to horse and buggy days, street and exterior building lights are needed, but so much of it is wasted. That light is sprayed into the sky for no reason. Think of the energy savings if the urban lighting could be directed solely to the ground where it’s really needed. There have been steps taken. In many cities in Arizona streetlights are required to have caps to keep the light from shooting into the sky.

That alone can make a real difference. If there’s any doubt to how much light pollution there is just take a look at a satellite view of North America at night.

We’re not the only ones shooting excessive light into the heavens though. Europe and other continents are just as guilty.

All is not lost, though. There are still dark places to go. At some point you owe it to yourself to find those truly dark areas. Just do your research and planning. The important thing is timing. Always plan your time within four days of the monthly new moon. If there’s a bright moon it won’t matter where you go.

One of my favorite websites to help with this is Clear Sky Clock. Not only can you use it to find really dark skies in your area, but it can also help you determine if the skies will be clear enough. It uses data from the Canadian Meteorological Center, but it covers Canada, the continental U.S. and even parts of Mexico. As a meteorologist it’s one of the my tools I use in day to day (and night to night) weather forecasting.

I live in Eagan, Minn., and I know there are closer places to go, but my favorite “happy place” is in southeastern Arizona near the Chiricahua Mountains, close to Portal, Ariz. There are few lights and the skies are so dark!

It’s absolute heaven. I can’t believe how fast the nighttime hours pass there, even in the colder winter months. I try to go there at least once a year.

No matter where you settle in for a night of truly dark stargazing, you will want to acquire your night vision and hang onto it. It can take as long as an hour to achieve that and even a brief flash from a flashlight can spoil your night vision for up to another hour, so be careful.

Any light you need to use for star maps and such should be red light exclusively. You can buy red headband flashlights at camping stores and department stores. Also, if you’re using one of those stargazing apps on a cell phone or an iPad make sure it has a setting for red screen. Don’t let one brief burst of light undo all the work you’ve done adapting to the dark. Stay in what I call an astronomical red light district!

Along with all of the regular splendor of a truly dark night sky this time of year you can also see zodiacal light above the western horizon. At first you may think it’s just an extension of evening twilight, but it’s not.

Twilight is caused by Earth’s atmosphere. Zodiacal light resembles a pyramid, and is caused by the sun’s light reflecting off dust partially trapped along the plane of the inner part of our solar system where the Earth resides.

We see it best this time of the year because the sun sets closer to the direction of the plane of the solar system. It’s more easily seen in the southern part of the U.S. but I have seen it in the northern reaches as well.

Zodiacal light or not, I know you’ll enjoy an occasional trip into truly dark places to take in the heavenly show. Just make sure you keep it dark.

Celestial hugging

On Sunday and Monday night, the nearly full moon passes by the bright planet Jupiter below the constellation Leo the Lion in the low eastern evening sky.

On Monday night, Jupiter and the moon will be less than two degrees apart. Don’t miss it.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at www.adventurepublications.net.