News Release

Stargazing Program at National Park

Date: January 9, 2020

INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK: Join members from several astronomical societies as they share their telescopes and introduce visitors to the night sky on Saturday, January 18, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm Central Time at Indiana Dunes National Park’s Kemil Beach parking lot. Kemil Beach is one of the darkest locations in the national park and is ideal for stargazing. This program is outside so please dress for the weather.
 
While telescopes will be available, feel free to bring binoculars or your own telescope from home. Learn about the celestial objects of the season and the benefits of natural night darkness and dark-sky friendly lighting. Stargazing will be held on the third Saturday of every month throughout 2020.
 
This month, the Orion nebula, Pleiades, and several bright rich star clusters will be showpieces. Bright winter stars, Sirius, Rigel, Betelgeuse, Castor, and Polux will be overhead. Venus will shine in the southwest.
 
The Kemil Beach parking lot is located on East State Park Road (300E), one mile north of U.S. Highway 12 and three miles east of State Road 49. The GPS coordinates of the parking lot are 41.677427, -87.009529 (Decimal Degrees).
 
For more information on this or other programs at Indiana Dunes National Park, call 219-395-1882 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/indu and our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/IndianaDunesNPS.
 
www.nps.gov