2024 DarkSky Festival in Arkansas
Check out this video of the Arkansas Dark Sky Festival that represents a great example of the amazing world at night!
Urban Night Sky Place
Missouri has two Urban Night Sky Place designations!
Urban sites promote an authentic nighttime experience despite being in the midst of significant artificial light.
Urban sites promote an authentic nighttime experience despite being in the midst of significant artificial light.
Thousand Hills State Park
Designated in November 2024
We are pleased to announce that Thousand Hills State Park in Kirksville, Missouri, was certified as an Urban Night Sky Place by DarkSky International. This is a culmination of efforts that began several years ago, validating the work of Thousand Hills State Park in protecting the night sky above and around the city from the effects of light pollution.
Stacy Park
Designated in October 2021
Stacy Park is a 35-acre park located in Olivette, Missouri and is approximately 10 miles west of St. Louis City. Established in 1926, Stacy Park is one of five parks in Olivette and is very popular with Olivette residents and residents of nearby cities. It contains soccer fields and two baseball diamonds that are used by the city’s youth sports program. There is a .75-mile blacktop walking path around the park and a recently added wood chip nature trail through the wooded area in the southern part of the park.
DarkSky Missouri Festival
A weekend in the Ozarks in the darkest skies of Missouri.
2025 Festival - Save the Date!!
Our 2025 Dark Sky Festival has been set for October 17-18, 2025. The festival will be held in the same location as our 2024 festival. Sign up for DarkSky Festival updates to get the latest information.
2024 Festival
We had a great DarkSky Missouri 2024 Festival. Click the button below to visit our festival webpage for photos and more...
FREE Download
Want to know about how to prevent light pollution in your community? Download our FREE Community Guide for Preventing Light Pollution.
Get Involved
Explore ways to protect Missouri night skies from artificial light at night. Actions range from taking simple steps at home to promoting our work in parks, cities and with state officials. We are here to help with expertise and resources.
Dark Sky Places
Help us protect our Missouri heritage by getting parks and cities in Missouri certified under the "International Dark Sky Places Program". If you are a park or city, you can submit a request to learn more.
Ordinances, Resolutions
Adopt a statute, ordinance, or resolution for your community. View DarkSky International's resource center that includes a model ordinance and helpful guides. Get help from DarkSky Missouri.
Request a Program
Host an event about light pollution in Missouri. You can ask us for a speaker or program, or we can provide with resources to help you give the talk on your own.
Lights Out to Save Birds
An estimated 600 millions birds in the U.S. die each year from collisions with buildings during spring/fall migration. Our "Lights Out Heartland" campaign aims to make their migration safer.
Certify Your Home
Is your home nature, neighbor, and night sky friendly? You can find out in four easy steps. Then, follow our user-guide to certify your home and download a free dark sky friendly home certificate! Make your house "neighbor friendly".
Citizen Science
Become a citizen scientist and have fun using your smartphone and telescopes! Explore projects that will help you measure and understand light pollution's impact on the night sky and and life on Earth.
Submit Your Photo
Who doesn't love photos of the Milky Way? We are sharing photos of the Missouri night sky taken by amateur and professional photographers. Please send us your photos and enjoy amazing photos submitted by others.
Missouri Dark Skies
Would you like to find the darkest skies in Missouri? Missouri still has over 50 parks and locations where the Milky Way is visible on a moonless night. We are building maps and tables so you can find the darkest skies in Missouri.
Learning Center
Learn responsible lighting basics, what a "Bortle Scale" means, how to handle a "Light Trespass Problem" and more by exploring our Learning Center.
Resources and News
View DarkSky Missouri's calendar of events, latest news, articles of interest, and download FREE brochures and reports.
Explore Our Work
Get Involved
DarkSky Missouri News
Ordinances/Resolutions
Articles of Interest
FREE Downloads
Members in Programs
Chapter Annual Report
ALAN: State of the Science 2024
“State Of The Science 2024” condenses the current scientific consensus on how artificial light affects seven key topics: the night sky; wildlife and ecology; human health; public safety; energy use and climate change; social justice; and a discussion of the emerging threat from light pollution caused by objects orbiting the Earth. Where gaps exist in our knowledge, we highlight them as targets of future research."
VR/360 Film
Enjoy this VR/360 film featuring the Gateway Arch National Park. The eight-minute, immersive experience provides a 360-degree view of the panoramic view of the night sky above the grounds of the Gateway Arch National Park. The loss of our night sky heritage is illustrated in terms of the Bortle Scale, a nine-level numeric scale that provides a consistent standard for comparing skies with differing levels of light pollution. Viewers can seamlessly pan the night sky in all directions as if standing on the grounds of the Gateway Arch National Park.