© Foto: Maximilian Kaiser
I see the starry sky

Germany's star park with mobile home

Four tips for amateur astronomists and romantic people

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Zunehmende nächtliche Beleuchtung macht es Sternenguckern immer schwerer – wer aber ein Wohnmobil hat, kann einfach in einen von Deutschlands Sternenparks fahren, dort übernachten und den Blick stundenlang in die Milchstraße richten. We present Winklmoosalm, Rhön Biosphere Reserve, Eifel National Park and Westhavelland with parking spaces.

Anyone who has once looked into the sky in the African savannah or the Bolivian Andes at night will not forget the view of the many incredibly bright stars. This is not only due to the starry sky in the southern hemisphere, but also to the significant amount of light pollution, at least away from large cities.

This term - also known as light mog - refers to the absence of complete darkness in many areas of the world, especially in densely populated Central Europe, where artificial light sources brighten the inhabited areas late in the night. The part of the light that radiates upwards is scattered in the air layers of the earth's atmosphere, creating a far-reaching night-time bell. As a result, in Central Europe we can often only see a fraction of the varying number of approximately 6,500 stars depending on the time of year. The milk road, i.e. our galaxy, is often no longer visible in cities and their surrounding area. In heavily polluted cities, there are often only a few dozen or no stars visible anymore.

On the other hand, the dark sky movement has formed internationally. One of their activities is to identify so-called dark sky parks, i.e. areas in which an almost naturally dark starry sky can still be observed - and to protect them as much as possible. There is a classification for this in gold (with a surface brightness of 21.75 mag/arcsec2 and darker), silver (21.00 and darker) and bronze (20.0 and darker). Among the world-renowned parks, the Eifel National Park and Winklmoosalm in the Bavarian Alps also have two German parks.

There are also Dark Sky Reserves: private or public land with a very good starry sky and nighttime landscape, which is protected by an extensive buffer zone of light pollution. Among the reserves are also two areas in Germany: the Westhavelland Natural Park and the UNESCO Rhön Biosphere Reserve.

All four German star parks are presented below – with tips for the best place to watch the stars, of course.

 

Westhavelland Star Park

The stars also shine particularly bright over western Havelland, around 70 kilometres from Berlin. In the 40 square kilometre core zone of the natural park, there are nine observation areas for the night sky.

Parking spaces The Westhavelland Natural Park and Star Park is not yet optimal in terms of mobile home parking spaces.

There is a place in Rathenow and also the campsites in the region. The shortage caused discontent, particularly in the coronavirus year 2020, because many campers stood in the open air. Anyone planning their trip in advance should find their place to stay.

The parking space at the riding school in Dreez is located in the middle of the star park, and not far from the observation point at Lake Gülpener, the parking space is at the harbour restaurant.

Rathenow parking lot Private parking space Premnitz Private parking space Havelsee Campsite Stechow-Ferchesar

 

© Foto: Christoph Prochotta
  • Foto: Christoph Prochotta
© Foto: Christoph Prochotta
  • Foto: Christoph Prochotta

Winklmoosalm Star Park

The Winklmoos-Alm Star Park is the first star park in the Alps. Like all star parks, it offers an extraordinary nighttime landscape - caused by particularly low levels of light pollution. At Winklmoosalm, the alpine farmers, restaurateurs and residents who have joined forces as Winklmoos alpine cooperatives are supporting the project. In recent months, the buildings have been converted to starpark-compliant lighting, further reducing light pollution.

In good weather and with a clear view, there are public star tours, more information can be found here.

Parking spaces

Directly on Winklmoosalm there are no parking spaces, between Ruhpolding and Reit in Winkl the following are recommended:

Parking space Unken
Campsite Ruhpolding
Parking space Reit in
Winkl Parking lot Weitsee

© Foto: Pixabay
  • Foto: Pixabay

Eifel Natural Park Star Park

Eifel Natural Park is a 110 square kilometre nature reserve southwest of Cologne. In 2014, he received preliminary recognition as a star park and has been officially named since 2019. Amazing is that large cities with several million people are close to the natural park, but it is still so dark.

Parking spaces There are several recommended parking spaces around the Eifel National Park:

 

Schleiden parking space Private parking space Schleiden parking space Heimbach parking space Simmerath

 

© Foto: Silvia Vanselow
  • Foto: Silvia Vanselow
© Foto: Harald Bardenhagen
  • Foto: Harald Bardenhagen

UNESCO Rhön Biosphere Reserve Star Park

Large parts of the Rhön met certain requirements even before recognition. But the dark sky movement in the Rhön did not really pick up speed until the 2014 award ceremony. This has made the area richer by a particular tourist attraction. In particular, the High Geba Star Park Areas in Thuringia, the Long Rhön in the border area between Bavaria, Hesse and Thuringia and the Black Mountains in the Bavarian part of the Rhön have very natural nightlandscapes with a starry sky.

Parking spaces

Tann
Parking space Fladungen
Private parking space Poppenhausen
Private parking space Rippershausen

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