CHARLESTON — Watoga State Park has become the first site in West Virginia to be designated a Dark Sky Park by the International Dark Sky Association, providing new opportunities for
CHARLESTON — Watoga State Park has become the first site in West Virginia to be designated a Dark Sky Park by the International Dark Sky Association, providing new opportunities for
Sky Watch: Summer wanes, ushers Northern Hemisphere into cooler fall washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Kim O’Connell |
December 21, 2020
Waterside stargazing at Assateague Island National Seashore. Photo by Getty Images
The rhythmic trills of the evening cicadas had faded, and I’d just fallen into a deep sleep when I heard the unmistakable sound of a tent flap being unzipped. In the darkness, my teenage son crunched away from our campsite, presumably to answer the call of nature. But when he didn’t come back right away, I sat up and called his name. “Mom, come out here,” he whispered. “The stars are amazing.”I stepped out of my tent, let my eyes adjust and followed the sound of his voice to a clearing near our campsite. Together we looked up at a black sky full of hundreds of twinkling stars, a glittering sugar bowl dumping out over our heads. “That’s the Milky Way,” my son pointed out. Together we spotted the Big Dipper, the North Star, the bright orange star Arcturus. In the quiet Virginia woods, far from the bright urban night we’re used to, the stars