An image of the Horsehead Nebula (right), and its celestial surroundings, taken at Deerlick Astronomy VillagePhotograph by Ed Albin “There’s nothing quite like the beauty of a spectacular night sky,” says Atlanta astronomer Ed Albin. He’s lucky enough to see one a few times a month at the Deerlick Astronomy Village in Taliaferro County, about 100 miles east of Atlanta. There, one can find some of the darkest skies on the entire East Coast, a vast firmament glittering with celestial bodies, similar to Arizona’s Kitt Peak National Observatory or McDonald Observatory in West Texas. But both those sites are perched on mountains nearly 7,000 feet high; Deerlick, a mere 600 feet above sea level, is nevertheless so dark and clear that with a telescope you can spot Saturn’s rings and the moons that orbit Jupiter. Along with a few dozen other part- and full-time residents, Albin—who was the planetarium astronomer at the Fernbank Science Center for nearly three decades—has his own observatory with a retractable roof at the village. From there, he gazes up at the Milky Way with its hundreds of billions of stars, observes the fiery tails of comets and colossal clouds of nebulae, and captures images of the moon’s ancient craters. Albin also dabbles in radio astronomy, which he explains is “basically observing the night sky at a longer wavelength.” Radio astronomers sweep different parts of the sky, hoping to catch a signal from another civilization. “Astronomers have been doing this since around 1960,” he says. “We haven’t gotten a signal yet, but most of us who observe the sky feel there must be life out there. So we keep trying. It’s kind of like casting a fishing line and hoping for a bite.” Groups of students visit Deerlick during the school year, and scouting troops often come to camp overnight. “It’s fantastic to witness their awe,” says Albin, “because they have never truly seen a dark sky.” In fact, according to longtime resident Jane Kuehn, “Ninety-five percent of the world has not seen what we see.” There is simply too much light pollution in the towns and cities where most of us live. In Atlanta, the problem is so bad that the Cornell Lab of Ornithology ranked it the fourth most dangerous city for fall-migrating birds. This dark-sky community was born in 2006, when five members of the Atlanta Astronomy Club went looking for a place free of light pollution. Taliaferro County fit the bill. The group bought 90 acres there, developed 28 parcels to lease or sell, and cleared an 11-acre grassy area they named “Grier’s Field,” where visitors can set up tents or RVs. They named their new village “Deerlick,” after a cluster of galaxies found in the constellation Pegasus. In this community of star lovers, darkness is next to godliness. The village has no streetlights, homes must use blackout curtains, and red LED lights mark the gravel roads. Residents even convinced the nearby town of Sharon to change its streetlights to downward-facing LEDs, reducing light pollution even further. Kuehn, who is now 78, recalls her first visit in the fall of 2007, when she and her husband came to Deerlick’s annual Peach State Star Gaze event, hosted by the Atlanta Astronomy Club. “About 100 or 150 people come for the week,” Kuehn says, “and it’s considered the South’s most famous star party. I was absolutely enthralled with the ambience and the people.” She and her husband bought a lot the next year, and later moved to Deerlick full time. Between 5 and 20 members of the Grier’s Field group, which includes residents and visitors alike, show up each month to chat and watch the skies for the new moon. “I’ve been known to go out at two or three in the morning,” says Deerlick resident and observing field manager Dan Ford, “and stay out until the break of dawn.” Living in Deerlick Village gives you a different perspective on the world, Ford says: “You sense that the universe is unending, and our earth is just a little dot in the sky. It puts you in a different frame of mind.” How to get there: Drive east on I-20 to 383 Constellation Lane in Crawfordville, Georgia. Upcoming events: Peach State Star Gaze: September 29 to October 6; Radio Astronomy Star Party: October 17 to 20. Where to stay: You can camp or rent at Grier’s Field by purchasing a membership, or camp at the nearby 1,100-acre A.H. Stephens State Park in Crawfordville. This article appears in our October 2024 issue. The post At Deerlick Astronomy Village in Taliaferro County, the nights are long, dark, and starry appeared first on Atlanta Magazine.