Portage Area Dark Skies

09/04/2026

Amazon has a bunch of great deals on dark sky-friendly lighting! Celebrate the return of autumn 🍂 by restoring a few stars to the night sky in your neighborhood! 🏠

09/02/2026

Portage is shining bright this afternoon. 🌞 🌳 ❤️

08/27/2026

Good afternoon, Portage! Are your hydrangeas in bloom, yet? I was today years old when I found out they're great for a moon garden!

These bloomed just in time for the Sturgeon Moon and eclipse! I wonder what a wander in the garden will look like under the Sturgeon Moon tonight.

What's in your moon garden or moon garden wishlist?

08/27/2026

The night it about to put on a show! 😍

A special event will happen in the night sky on Thursday - a partia...

08/24/2026

How many out of compliance lights do you see? Can you see what's in front of you?

08/17/2026

Good evening night owls! It's a good night for the Milky Way if you want to see what faint traces are left here in Portage.

Only 1 in 5 people can still see it where they live. A reading of 20.00 is the minimum needed to see any parts at all. If we shielded our lights or even used motion bulbs, we could see the beauty more frequently.

We could also see BETTER without the glare. Kind of like using a sun visor! 😉

These solutions cost as little as $12-25 per fixture.

It's such a cheap investment for better sleep, preserving history, brighter stars, protecting pollinators, and a healthier community.

If you're ready to return the night, message me and I'll try and help however I can.

Sleep tight, Portage!

08/15/2026

Want to go dark sky but unsure where to start? What if you could retrofit your existing fixture?

Dark sky-friendly lighting doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive! 🌙💡

Join DarkSky staff for a practical, hands-on session featuring DIY hacks, simple swaps, smart controls, and creative workarounds you can use to reduce light pollution at home and in your community.

We’ll put the 5 Principles of Responsible Outdoor Lighting into action, share solutions that work for renters and tricky spaces, and wrap up with a community show-and-tell, live Q&A, and networking.

Have a dark sky-friendly hack of your own? Bring your photos and ideas to share!

🗓 Date: August 19th, 2026
🕕 Time: 11:30 a.m. PDT
🔗 Become an advocate to register: https://bit.ly/3WhIpam

08/12/2026

Good afternoon, Portage! Let's stop to cloud gaze! What do you see?

Like if you want to see more cloud gazing here. 👍 ❤️

☁️ 😶‍🌫️ 🌤

08/08/2026

Speaking of the dog days of summer, have you ever stopped to wonder what that meant? Well, to find the answer, we’ll have to look up!

The Dog Days occur when the star Sirius, the dog star, part of the constellation Canis Major, rises in the eastern sky just before the sun. This is often referred to as the heliacal rising. Ancient Greeks and Romans thought that the location of Sirius in the sky added extra heat to the Sun, increased midsummer temperatures, and associated this period with lethargy, fever, drought, and even misfortune.

What to look for? Between July 3 and August 14 gaze low into the southeastern horizon 45 minutes before sunrise. Can you spot a fast-twinkling star sparkling with red, white and blue? That’s it!

Happy Dog Days, Portage!