The challenges<\/p>\n
The National Park Service<\/a> states that light pollution occurs when there is too much artificial light in the atmosphere and it interferes with a person\u2019s vision, including a light glaring directly at someone and \u201chuman-caused lights scattered in the atmosphere.\u201d It\u2019s a problem San Diego shares with many metropolitan areas.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s estimated that light pollution is increasing globally at an annual rate of nearly 10%, with 8 out of 10 children<\/a> born today possibly never experiencing the wonder and awe of seeing our Milky Way galaxy<\/a> in a truly dark night sky,\u201d said Cathy Handzel, chapter president of DarkSky San Diego County, a nonprofit organization that advocates against light pollution. \u201cWe just need the willingness to change our bad lighting habits.\u201d<\/p>\n DarkSky San Diego County<\/a>\u00a0holds educational outreach events and shares information with residents and governments about the negative impact light pollution has on stargazing.<\/p>\n The public can help reduce light pollution by \u201cshielding light fixtures, re-aiming, toning down the lumens and color temperature and simply turning off unnecessary lighting,\u201d Handzel said.<\/p>\n DarkSky San Diego County has helped the public obtain lower-wattage bulbs near homes, including providing a Solana Beach resident with municipal code information and guidance to resolve a Metropolitan Transit System lighting issue, Handzel said in an email.<\/p>\n The weather can also play a factor.<\/p>\n \u201cThe marine layer usually moves on shore sometimes in the evening at 8, 9 or 10 p.m. and starts moving inland, usually reaching its maximum extent in the overnight hours \u2014 that can be any time between 12 and 4 a.m.,\u201d said Sebastian Westerink, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in San Diego.\u00a0<\/p>\n May and June tend to have the heaviest levels of marine layer in the county, which can extend for about 20 miles from the ocean, but most of the year, the marine layer extends for about 10 to 15 miles east, he said.<\/p>\n When it comes to elevation, Westerink said anything \u201cabove 2,000 feet you\u2019re typically in the clear of most of the marine layer clouds, unless it\u2019s May or June, where you can usually get clouds up to 3,000 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n Stargazing tips<\/p>\n Go east and go up to escape light pollution.<\/p>\n Dennis Ammann, outreach coordinator for the San Diego Astronomy Association<\/a>, recommends three main areas for local stargazing: Borrego Springs, Julian and Mount Laguna.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything else is trashed,\u201d Ammann said.<\/p>\n The Milky Way contains planets in our solar system, including Saturn, Jupiter and Venus, which can be seen on clear nights away from city lights after 1 a.m. and before sunrise,\u00a0Ammann said.<\/p>\n Ernie Cowan, Union-Tribune outdoor columnist, suggests that summer is the peak season for night sky watchers<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAnywhere east is good,\u201d Cowan said via email. \u201cAnza-Borrego can (be) very warm in the summer but is a great place to go. It is recognized as an International Dark Sky Community, as is Julian.\u201d<\/p>\n Other good stops for stargazing are on Palomar Mountain, \u201cespecially going down East Grade Road and overlooking Lake Henshaw. There is a viewing platform about a mile up Highway S-7 (East Grade Road) from Highway 76. Great place for a picnic, safe parking and spectacular viewing. I highly recommend this location,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n DarkSky San Diego County suggests Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Agua Caliente County Park, Borrego Springs, Fallbrook, Julian, Potrero County Park, Valley Center and Vallecito County Park for stargazing.<\/p>\n There are also places around San Diego County that hold regular stargazing events with experts, including both indoor and outdoor spaces.<\/p>\n Get out there<\/p>\n Fleet Science Center:<\/strong> The Balboa Park museum\u00a0has more than 100 exhibits that revolve around science, including a 76-foot dome theater. On the third Wednesday at 7 and 8:15 p.m. and second Sunday at 11 a.m. of each month, the Fleet Science Center presents The Sky Tonight, its planetarium show that explores our solar system, galaxies and the universe, with a different topic each month. Also, before or after Wednesday shows, the\u202fSan Diego Astronomy Association\u202fattends to help lead the conversation, and the public can view the skies through various telescopes on the Prado by the Bea Evenson Fountain. 1875 El Prado, San Diego. 619-238-1233, fleetscience.org\/events\/sky-tonight<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Mission Trails Regional Park: <\/strong>Just north of San Carlos, near Cowles Mountain, is Mission Trails Regional Park, in the city of San Diego. Every first and third Friday of the month, weather permitting, the San Diego Astronomy Association hosts nighttime stargazing events. The nonprofit organization brings telescopes that the public can use for free to view the night sky and provides education about what can be seen. The monthly events start around sunset. On the first Friday, the meet-up is at the Kumeyaay Lake Campground at 2 Father Junipero Serra Trail, and the third Friday gathering is held at the West Sycamore entrance of the park at 17160 Stonebridge Parkway. mtrp.org<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Observatory Campgrounds:<\/strong> Near Palomar Mountain, in the Cleveland National Forest, is the Observatory Campground. It\u2019s an area that is 4,800 feet in elevation, and DarkSky San Diego County recommends it for stargazing. The campground contains \u201ccement pads to allow campers to set up their telescopes,\u201d according to recreation.gov<\/a>, a reservation and travel planning website run by the federal government. Vehicles up to 32 feet in length are allowed on the campsite, and there are coin-operated showers, toilets, campfire rings, drinking water, picnic tables and grills. Plus, the Palomar Observatory<\/a> is about 2.5 miles away, which is free to visit during the day. Observatory Campground, County Highway S6, State Park Road #21485, Palomar Mountain. 760-788-0250, recreation.gov\/camping\/campgrounds<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Palomar College:\u00a0<\/strong>The public does not have to enroll in school to take advantage of Palomar College\u2019s planetarium. The facility opens its patio for free use of its telescopes every Friday night, except holidays or holiday weekends, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., weather permitting. Plus on Fridays, the planetarium holds an indoor live presentation that explains the planets and constellations in our galaxy that can be seen during that time of year, hosted by Palomar College\u2019s astronomers, starting at 7 p.m. There is also a weekly rotating 45-minute astronomy-themed educational film shown each Friday starting at 8:15 p.m. Tickets to each show are $5-$7. 1140 West Mission Road, San Marcos. 760-744-1150, palomar.edu\/planetarium\/public-shows<\/a><\/p>\n William Heise County Park:<\/strong>\u00a0At roughly 4,200 feet above sea level, William Heise County Park is an area in Julian that Ammannsuggests for stargazing. The 929-acre park is ideal for those who enjoy camping. It has 14 insulated and climate-controlled cabins, each 224 square feet, wood-bed frames (no mattress, pillows or sheets), tables, chairs, a food pantry, outdoor fire ring, picnic table and a deck. There are also tent sites and trailer parking. 4945 Heise Park Road, Julian. 760-765-0650, sdparks.org\/content\/sdparks\/en\/park-pages\/WilliamHeise<\/a><\/p>\n Originally Published: August 22, 2025 at 9:00 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Those who live in most areas of San Diego County can attest to the difficulty of seeing anything…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":167206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,171,1370,50,3549,7264,159,1072,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-167205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-things-to-do","18":"tag-top-stories-sdut","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115073986472230241","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"During](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SUT-L-STAR-GUIDE-003A.jpg\")
During the Dark Sky Festival, Alex Baldwin and Vanessa Varela of Spring Valley lay on their blanket as they watch the stars and a meteor shower. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Jaime](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SUT-L-STAR-GUIDE-002A.jpg\")
Jaime Villegas with the Mira Mesa Astronomy group calibrates his 8-inch telescope during the San Diego Dark Sky Festival.\u00a0(Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SUT-L-STAR-GUIDE-004A.jpg\")
A crowd of over 1,500 gathered to enjoy the Dark Sky Festival. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n