"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 saw a record turnout of stargazers, despite challenging weather conditions. While the park achieved Dark Sky Park status, there were whispers of bureaucracy preventing it from becoming a Dark Sky Sanctuary. The event highlighted the rarity of dark skies in the 21st century due to light pollution, with the Milky Way no longer visible to one-third of the planet. The Nebraska Star Party founder, Tom Miller, started the event in 1993 to showcase the area's exceptional stargazing potential.