The Acadia Night Sky Festival begins today

Starting today, and running through next Monday, Acadia National Park, located near Bar Harbor Maine, will play host to the third annual Acadia Night Sky Festival. The event, which is designed to celebrate and promote the stunning night skies above the park, will mix live music, art, and science, with a healthy dose of stargazing.

The event is designed to be family friendly, offering plenty of activities that both kids and adults will enjoy. Some of those activities include daily children’s book give-a-ways, photography workshops, lectures, picnics, and more. Tonight there will be boat cruises to take in the night sky while out on the water, and the rest of the weekend includes scheduled “star parties” at various locations around the park, including Cadillac Mountain and Schoodic Peninsula.

The skies above Acadia are described as “the largest expanse of naturally dark sky, east of the Mississippi,” something that is seen as a spectacular natural resource by the organizers of this event. As our urban environments continue to expand, and bring plenty of light pollution with them, fewer and fewer people actually get to experience a night sky in all of its glory. This festival hopes to remind us just how beautiful – and humbling– that view can be.

The Acadia Night Sky Festival comes to a conclusion at dawn on Monday, September 26th, with early risers enjoying a sunrise on Cadillac Summit, as the night sky fittingly gives way to the sun.

And don’t forget, entry into the park is free on Saturday.

Acadia Night Sky Festival scheduled for early September

The second annual Acadia Night Sky Festival is scheduled to take place in Bar Harbor, Maine this September, offering a chance for stargazers to take in the most spectacular views of the night sky along the entire eastern seaboard – from one of the most spectacular national parks in the entire U.S. no less. The event will offer both day and night time activities, with plenty to offer the entire family.

Official activities will get underway on Thursday, September 9th with a panel discussion, photography workshop, and stargazing at the Jackson Laboratory. The festival really gets going on Friday, September 10th however and will continue through the weekend, ending with the sunrise creeping over the 1532 foot tall Cadillac Summit on the morning of Monday, September 13th. In between, you’ll find seminars on understanding our universe, photography exhibitions and classes, picnics, star parties, and much more. Some of the events will be conducted by rangers from Acadia National Park who will offer insights into how to navigate by the stars and what it’s like in the park after the sun goes down.

The festival is used to raise awareness of the increase of light pollution in the U.S. as it is a celebration of the wonderful night skies over Maine, which has the most star filled skies east of the Mississippi River. With urban sprawl continuing to grow, and more urban centers sending light into the heavens, our views of the stars are becoming more and more impeded all the time. The Acadia Night Sky Festival hopes to remind us just how amazing those views above us really are.