Guides

Short guides to watching the night sky: meteor showers, the Milky Way season, the Bortle dark-sky scale, and what to bring for a night out. Every guide links to the dark-sky places on this site where you can see it for yourself.

• Meteor Shower Calendar 2026–27: Every Major Shower, Peak Nights and Where to Watch — Peak nights, moonlight and ZHR for every major meteor shower from November 2026 to August 2027, with the best dark-sky places on this site for each one.
• Milky Way Season: When the Galactic Core Is Visible and Where to See It — When the Milky Way’s galactic core is visible in each hemisphere, month by month, what it looks like under each Bortle class, and the best dark-sky places for it.
• How to Read the Bortle Scale: Classes 1–9 and What You Will Actually See — The Bortle scale, class by class: what you actually see at each level, naked-eye limiting magnitude and approximate SQM, how to estimate your own sky, and places on this site grouped by Bortle.
• What to Bring for a Night Out Under the Stars — A practical checklist for a night of stargazing: red light, layers, seating, binoculars, food and water, safety, etiquette and Leave No Trace.