The cover of The Night Sky over Vermont

Guides Vermont

The Night Sky over Vermont

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 Vermont pages actually look like

From the Vermont edition

Some of what is actually in it

Every dark-sky place the Vermont edition sends you to, and every meteor shower it tracks through the year:

  • The Northeast Kingdom
  • Camel's Hump State Park
  • Green Mountain National Forest
  • Rural areas away from Burlington and the I-89 corridor
  • Quadrantids
  • Lyrids
  • Eta Aquariids
  • Southern Delta Aquariids
  • Perseids
  • Draconids
  • Orionids
  • Southern Taurids
  • Northern Taurids
  • Leonids
  • Geminids
  • Ursids

How the Vermont year breaks down

Counted, not claimed

On the 2027 numbers the standout for Vermont 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 Vermont knows which nights are worth the drive.

In the box

Exactly what you receive

Vermont pages8 pages — the meteor calendar, dark-sky places and seasonal targets
FormatPDF, laid out for both Letter and A4
DeliveryAn instant download link, plus a link you can re-open for 72 hours
AccessYours to keep — no expiry, no account, no subscription
RefundsFull refund within 30 days, no questions

How it works

From checkout to the field

  1. Buy it

    Checkout takes a card and an email address — no account to create.

  2. Open it straight away

    The download link appears immediately and the Vermont files are yours to keep.

  3. Use it through the year

    Print the Vermont 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 Vermont pages here stay free. Here is what the edition adds.

The free Vermont pagesThe Night Sky over Vermont
What it coversThe month Vermont is in, free and alwaysAll twelve Vermont months, planned before they arrive
Dark placesVermont's 4 dark-sky spots, describedThe same spots with the year's meteor calendar around them
Where you can read itOn a screen, wherever Vermont has signalOn paper, in the field, with no signal at all
PriceFree, 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 Vermont 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 Vermont, drawn from long-run records — weather, elevation and how close you are to water all move the real dates around. So the Vermont 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 Vermont edition, and which figures are measured rather than modeled, is set out in the methodology.

Questions

Before you decide

Is this specific to Vermont, or a national guide with the name swapped in?

It is built from Vermont's own data. Peak times and moon brightness are computed for Vermont's latitude, and the dark-sky places are Vermont's own — 4 of them.

How accurate is the timing for Vermont?

It describes typical timing across Vermont drawn from long-run records, and because weather, elevation and habitat move real Vermont dates around it says "usually early May" rather than "May 4th".

Is it worth paying when the Vermont pages here are free?

The free Vermont pages are the month you are in; this is the whole Vermont year, planned before it arrives and printable, so you are not holding a screen in the garden.

Will it work for my part of Vermont, or just the big cities?

It is written at state resolution — Vermont as a whole, with regional notes where Vermont genuinely differs end to end, and nothing behind it is recorded finely enough to honestly promise more than that.

What format is the Vermont 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 Vermont pages are made to be carried outside.

What if the Vermont guide is not what I expected?

Email hello@birchcompass.com within 30 days for a full refund on the Vermont edition, and keep the files either way — asking for them back would be theatre.

Prefer to read online first? The free Vermont night sky reference covers the same ground on screen.

The rest of the Vermont shelf

Also for Vermont