For amateur astronomers, 'star parties' are the antidote to light-polluted skies

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/24/ [login to see] /astronomy-light-pollution-star-party-astrophotography
Up a winding road that cuts through the Allegheny Plateau, hundreds of amateur astronomers in campers and pickups stream into northern Pennsylvania each spring and summer in search of one thing: stars.

It's something they can't get enough of in the halo of light pollution that surrounds most cities. By contrast, Cherry Springs State Park, located about 135 miles northwest of Wilkes-Barre, is one of the very few truly dark sky sites in the entire eastern United States.

Twice a year, in June and September, park officials and local astronomy clubs team up to host "star parties" that draw people from as far away as Florida and Wisconsin. For these amateur astronomers, there's no replacement for the inky-black skies that reveal what they affectionately refer to as "faint fuzzies" — dim and distant galaxies, star clusters and nebulae.