The Night Sky over Montana
A stargazing companion for the state that does not expire: the meteor calendar, the darkest places, and how to read any year's sky.
- The annual meteor calendar with moon interference figured in
- The darkest places in the state, and how to get to them
- How to pick the right night in any year
- Beginner star-hop targets by season
- Evergreen: it does not expire at the end of a year
$9.99one-time
Instant download · yours to keep, with no account and no renewal · full refund within 30 days
A look inside
What the Montana pages actually look like
From the Montana edition
Some of what is actually in it
Every dark-sky place the Montana edition sends you to, and every meteor shower it tracks through the year:
- Glacier National Park
- Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex
- Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge
- Makoshika State Park
- Quadrantids
- Lyrids
- Eta Aquariids
- Southern Delta Aquariids
- Perseids
- Draconids
- Orionids
- Southern Taurids
- Northern Taurids
- Leonids
- Geminids
- Ursids
How the Montana year breaks down
Counted, not claimed
On the 2027 numbers the standout for Montana is the Quadrantids — about 120 an hour at its peak with the moon only 18% lit, best after midnight into dawn.
The Geminids, by contrast, peak against a 100%-lit moon that year — the kind of night the guide tells you to skip rather than let you find out at 2am.
The calendar runs every major shower of the year — 12 of them — with the moon's brightness worked out for each peak, so Montana knows which nights are worth the drive.
In the box
Exactly what you receive
| Montana pages | 8 pages — the meteor calendar, dark-sky places and seasonal targets |
|---|---|
| Format | PDF, laid out for both Letter and A4 |
| Delivery | An instant download link, plus a link you can re-open for 72 hours |
| Access | Yours to keep — no expiry, no account, no subscription |
| Refunds | Full refund within 30 days, no questions |
How it works
From checkout to the field
Buy it
Checkout takes a card and an email address — no account to create.
Open it straight away
The download link appears immediately and the Montana files are yours to keep.
Use it through the year
Print the Montana pages you want and take them outside; they are laid out with room to write on as the season moves.
Free and paid, side by side
The Montana pages here stay free. Here is what the edition adds.
| The free Montana pages | The Night Sky over Montana | |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | The month Montana is in, free and always | All twelve Montana months, planned before they arrive |
| Dark places | Montana's 4 dark-sky spots, described | The same spots with the year's meteor calendar around them |
| Where you can read it | On a screen, wherever Montana has signal | On paper, in the field, with no signal at all |
| Price | Free, and staying that way | $9.99 once — no renewal, no account |
Before you buy
Who this is for
Made for
- People who want to know which Montana nights are worth the drive
- Beginners with no telescope and no jargon
- Anyone planning a trip around a meteor shower
Not for
- Deep-sky astrophotographers; this is naked-eye and binocular observing
Everything here describes typical timing across Montana, drawn from long-run records — weather, elevation and how close you are to water all move the real dates around. So the Montana pages say "usually early May" and never "May 4th", which is not hedging but the most the data can honestly carry.
Where it comes from
Compiled from
International Meteor Organization. How each of these is used in the Montana edition, and which figures are measured rather than modeled, is set out in the methodology.
Questions
Before you decide
Is this specific to Montana, or a national guide with the name swapped in?
It is built from Montana's own data. Peak times and moon brightness are computed for Montana's latitude, and the dark-sky places are Montana's own — 4 of them.
How accurate is the timing for Montana?
It describes typical timing across Montana drawn from long-run records, and because weather, elevation and habitat move real Montana dates around it says "usually early May" rather than "May 4th".
Is it worth paying when the Montana pages here are free?
The free Montana pages are the month you are in; this is the whole Montana year, planned before it arrives and printable, so you are not holding a screen in the garden.
Will it work for my part of Montana, or just the big cities?
It is written at state resolution — Montana as a whole, with regional notes where Montana genuinely differs end to end, and nothing behind it is recorded finely enough to honestly promise more than that.
What format is the Montana edition, and can I print it?
A PDF laid out for both Letter and A4, one page per sheet — printing it is the point, since the Montana pages are made to be carried outside.
What if the Montana guide is not what I expected?
Email hello@birchcompass.com within 30 days for a full refund on the Montana edition, and keep the files either way — asking for them back would be theatre.
Prefer to read online first? The free Montana night sky reference covers the same ground on screen.
The rest of the Montana shelf
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