New Mexico Stargazing

Our state claims nine of the 201 certified Dark Sky Places worldwide, including seven Dark Sky Parks and the first-ever Urban Night Sky Place (Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, near Albuquerque). While 80 percent of people in the U.S. live in places where artificial light and murky air drown out most constellations, New Mexicans need only venture as far as our own backyards to see the Milky Way.