The indexnightdatable to the day
Milky Way core season
Fires when new moon ±4 days AND transparency forecast clear
Photograph Openverse contributor · CC0 1.0
March through September, peaking May and June. The notch is October.
Dates worth protecting
- Sun, March 7, 2027in 5 months
- Tue, April 6, 2027in 6 months
- Wed, May 5, 2027in 7 months
- Fri, June 4, 2027in 8 months
- Sat, July 3, 2027in 9 months
- Mon, August 2, 2027in 10 months
Every one of these is already inside the Florida State Parks booking window, so the site is reservable today. Eleven months for Florida residents, ten if you are not one. New sites open daily at 8am ET.
Keyed to the new moon nearest this season. Moon dates come from a mean lunar month and can be a day out — check one before you commit a four-hour drive to it.
- Where
- Kissimmee Prairie Preserve (dark-sky park)
- Drive
- 90 minutes from Lakeland
- In season
- March through September
- Peak
- May and June
- Certainty
- datable to the day
- Drone
- permit
How often we have called it on
We have not once called this on, across 6 Sunday builds. That is our own weekly verdict rather than a measurement of the trigger, and a condition that fires midweek can pass between two builds.
From the field
Astro pads book out at new moon — booking gate two weeks ahead.