Star Parties

Photograph by WAA Member David Parmet

Photograph by WAA Member David Parmet
Starway to Heaven is the name we give to our observing nights which take place in the Meadow parking area of Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Cross River, NY. Our members typically arrive at sunset (or shortly before) to set up their equipment. On this page, you can find a table of dates and sunset times for each star party for the current year. On the desktop version of our website, this table also includes some information about the moon phase for each date. We schedule star parties on nights where the moon will not be a factor so that we can view fainter objects.
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To view our observing location at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation on Google maps, click here.
For a map showing how to navigate from the park entrance on Rt. 121 to the Meadow parking area, click here.
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Weather permitting, we plan to hold star parties on each of the dates listed below. If the weather looks questionable, please check our information hotline for weather updates before driving to the park - 877-456-5778.
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PLEASE READ THE STAR PARTY DOs AND DON'Ts TO ENSURE THAT EVERYONE ENJOYS THE NIGHT SKY SAFELY AND SECURELY.
Attending a Star Party
Our star parties are free and open to the public through the generosity of the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation . We encourage you to bring your telescope, especially if you need help using it or setting it up.
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To assist you in finding interesting objects to observe, we recommend a Windows planetarium program like Cartes du Ciel (free), Stellarium (free), or TheSky (commercial).
SkySafari (commercial, for iOS, Android, MacOS only) is a great program and can be used to sight the sky on a hand-held device. The are many good observing guides in book form. A planisphere is a historic but quite useful tool for identifying stars and constellations.
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Don’t have a telescope? You can look through our members’ equipment. We love to show the sky to new observers and are happy to answer questions about the sky or equipment. If there is a particular object you are interested in observing, feel free to ask!
Weather Information
Call 877-456-5778 for weather cancellations, or check the News page. We make every effort to update the hotline message and news page before noon on the day of star party in the event of a cancellation, but a good rule of thumb is: Don’t show up if you can’t count more than 10 bright stars. The Clear Sky Clock for Ward Pound Ridge is a good predictor of the night sky conditions. You can also check the more detailed NOAA weather forecast for Ward Pound Ridge.
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WAA members receive email updates regarding cancellations.
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WAA cannot guarantee the turnout of members and telescopes during the winter months or on evenings with less-than-ideal conditions.
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PLEASE READ THE STAR PARTY DOs AND DON'Ts TO ENSURE THAT EVERYONE ENJOYS THE NIGHT SKY SAFELY AND SECURELY.
Covid-19 Advisory
WAA follows CDC guidelines and the current scientific literature.
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WAA strongly recommends Covid-19 vaccination and boosters.
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Star parties are outdoor events and thus fairly low risk if the local Covid-19 case rates are low. Do not attend a star party if you feel ill, have a cough, fever or body aches, or tested positive for Covid-19 in the previous 10 days. Mask-wearing is optional but still recommended if the observing field is crowded. If additional restrictions are imposed by Westchester County in response to an increase in case rates, we will implement them at our star party.
Dates (Saturdays) | Sunset | Moon Illumination | Moon Rise/Set | Moon Phase |
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03/22/2025 | 7:11 PM | 0.45 | Rises 3:38 AM | Waning |
03/29/2025 | 7:19 PM | 0.01 | New | New |
04/19/2025 | 7:42 PM | 0.61 | Rises 1:32 AM | Waning |
04/26/2025 | 7:50 PM | 0.01 | New | New |
05/17/2025 | 8:08 PM | 0.75 | Rises 12:55 AM | Waning |
05/24/2025 | 8:19 PM | 0.06 | Rises 4:01 AM | Waning |
05/31/2025 | 8:25 PM | 0.29 | Sets 12:47 AM | Waxing |
06/21/2025 | 8:34 PM | 0.16 | Rises 2:32 AM | Waning |
06/28/2025 | 8:35 PM | 0.16 | Sets 11:13 PM | Waxing |
07/19/2025 | 8:25 PM | 0.27 | Rises 1:07 AM | Waning |
07/26/2025 | 8:19 PM | 0.06 | Sets 9:38 PM | Waxing |
08/16/2025 | 7:52 PM | 0.41 | Rises 11:48 PM | Waning |
08/23/2025 | 7:41 PM | 0.01 | New | New |
09/13/2025 | 7:06 PM | 0.55 | Rises 10:35 PM | Waning |
09/20/2025 | 6:54 PM | 0.01 | New | New |
09/27/2025 | 6:42 PM | 0.32 | Sets 9:27 PM | Waxing |
10/18/2025 | 6:07 PM | 0.06 | New | New |
10/25/2025 | 5:57 PM | 0.17 | Sets 8:10 PM | Waxing |
11/15/2025 | 4:33 PM | 0.15 | Rises 3:15 AM | Waning |
11/22/2025 | 4:28 PM | 0.07 | Sets 5:58 PM | Waxing |