{"id":1870,"date":"2026-01-23T21:16:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scenic.dorsay.io\/?post_type=priorities&#038;p=1870"},"modified":"2026-01-23T21:23:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:23:33","slug":"dark-skies","status":"publish","type":"priorities","link":"https:\/\/scenic.dorsay.io\/index.php\/priorities\/dark-skies\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Skies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Did you know that Michigan is among the best places in the lower 48 states to see the northern lights (aurora borealis)? The auroral oval of visibility is centered on the magnetic pole, which means that northern Michigan offers the same auroral visibility as Oslo, Norway; Helsinki, Finland; and Kodiak, Alaska. However, since Michigan is farther south, night time lasts much longer from spring to fall than in these locations, which are famous for \u201cwhite nights\u201d in which the sun does not fully set. Dark, moonless nights are needed to see the northern lights, so Michigan provides excellent opportunities to see them all year\u2014including summer. However, light pollution is increasingly an issue\u2014with a rate rising up to 20 percent per year. Scenic Michigan is committed to working toward practical solutions to address the problem of light pollution and we\u2019re working on developing resources to guide communities on the development of better lighting ordinances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are partnering with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/darkskies\/\">Michigan Dark Skies<\/a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.darksky.org\/\">International Dark Sky Association<\/a>&nbsp;to develop better guidance for Michigan communities. Please reach out to us if you need any assistance developing a lighting ordinance for your community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019re interested in visiting a dark sky preserve in Michigan, check out the following websites for helpful guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/dnr\/0,4570,7-350-79133_79205_84074---,00.html\">List of Michigan Dark Sky Preserves (DNR website)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.midarkskypark.org\/\">Headlands International Dark Sky Park<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1871,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-1870","priorities","type-priorities","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dark Skies - Scenic Michigan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scenic.dorsay.io\/index.php\/priorities\/dark-skies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dark Skies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Did you know that Michigan is among the best places in the lower 48 states to see the northern lights (aurora borealis)? The auroral oval of visibility is centered on the magnetic pole, which means that northern Michigan offers the same auroral visibility as Oslo, Norway; Helsinki, Finland; and Kodiak, Alaska. 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