SPY HILL Research
Spy-Hill.com
Poughkeepsie, New York [DIR] [UP]
 
Astronomical Dawn:
03:53 EDT
Civil Dawn:
05:16 EDT
Sunrise:
05:46 EDT

Astronomy at
Innisfree Garden

Duchess County, New York

As of Wednesday, 30-Jul-2025 14:35:38 EDT

Sunset:
20:16 EDT
Civil Dusk:
20:46 EDT
Astronomical Dusk:
22:09 EDT

Clear Sky Chart

(James Baird State Park is only about 2 miles away from Innisfree Garden.)

Weather

 Astrospheric
for LTSP. NWS Forecast
for Innisfree
RADAR
Millbrook, NY Current Weather
Millbrook, NY

No White Lights, Please

Astronomers prefer dim red lights to white lights, because dim red light helps preserve night vision. This can make all the difference between seeing or not seeing a very faint target.

If you arrive after dark, please dim your lights as you approach the parking area. If possible, you might even use only your parking lights, at least when you are approaching and your lights would illuminate The Overlook. (But always drive safely - use your lights if needed, especially in the parking area where there may be other people.)

Astronomer's Flashlight

You can easily convert a flashlight for use at a star party by covering the lens with red plastic "electricians" tape, which you can get at almost any hardware or home repair store. One layer should be enough. You can also use automobile tail light repair tape, which you can get at an auto parts store, but with this you will probably need two layers, and it's probably more expensive.

-- Please avoid flash photography whenever possible. --

 

Sunrise/ Sunset
at Innisfree
Moon Phases,
Rise & Set
MHAA Star Party
Etiquette Guide
Map of
Innisfree

Astrospheric

The Astrospheric website and mobile app have become invaluable for planning star parties. The display can look complicated and intimidating at first, but it's fairly easy to read once you get the hang of it. In general, blue means clear sky or good conditions, while white means cloudy sky or bad conditions.

View Astrospheric for Innisfree the web...
Get the Astrospheric App for iOS or Android

View the International Space Station (ISS)

 The dates, times, and directions to look for ISS passes are given by several websites and mobile apps:
From N2YO.com:
ISS Passes for
Innisfree Garden
from Heavens Above Heavens Above
General Menu for
Innisfree Garden Spot The Station from NASA:

Mobile app for iOS and Android

Light Pollution Map
Innisfree is outside of Poughkeepsie, NY, and so there is some city glow to the southwest.
The yellow band that contains Innisfree is 4.5 on the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale (which was invented by John E. Bortle of Stormville, NY).

Details at ClearDarkSky.com

Local Astronomy Resources

Mid-Hudson Astronomical
Association (MHAA)
Star parties at Lake Taghkanic every month.
SUNY New Paltz
John R. Kirk Planetarium
Public planetarium shows every other Thursday evening.

SUNY New Paltz
Smolen Observatory
Open for public viewing every other Thursday night (when the sky is clear)

Mobile Apps

Astrospheric

Stellarium
Mobile

Planets

SkyView

Sky Safari

Pocket Universe

Stellarium

Stellarium is software which can show you the night sky at any time from any place on the surface of the Earth (and even some planets). It's used in the John R. Kirk Planetarium at SUNY New Paltz, and in other planetariums around the world, but you can also run it on your own computer. It is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can get Stellarium from http://stellarium.org.

Stellarium can be customized to display a 'landscape' around the horizon, which can help you get oriented and show you what parts of the sky might be blocked by terrain or trees. This screen-shot is an example for Lake Taghkanic State Park:

 

You can download custom landscapes for a number of nearby locations. Installation is straighforward - just follow these easy instructions.

There are also versions of Stellarium for iOS and Android devices (see above). While Stellarium itself is open-source software, these apps are not free; paying for them rewards the developers for porting the software to mobile platforms.

 

  Copyright © 2025 by Spy Hill Research https://www.Spy-Hill.com/myers/astro/innisfree/index.html (served by jura.spy-hill.com) Last modified: 24 July 2025