"30th Annual Nebraska Star Party: Unveiling Dark Skies and Puzzling Enigmas"

The Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area in Nebraska has become the state's first certified International Dark Sky Park, offering some of the darkest skies on Earth. The 30th annual Nebraska Star Party attracted a record turnout of 382 registered stargazers, despite challenging weather conditions. However, there were whispers of bureaucracy preventing the park from achieving the highest classification of a Dark Sky Sanctuary. The event highlighted the rarity of clear night skies due to light pollution, with the Milky Way no longer visible to roughly one-third of the planet.