Broemmelsiek Park Astronomy Site — Attraction in Lake Saint Louis

It's a decent spot to stargaze, but you can tell it's not the ideal location anymore. Maybe like 10-15 years ago you would have enjoyed a dark sky. We went last night to try to see the Aurora Borealis, on the off chance it would appear. 2 immediate problems with this site. The first is that the light pollution from nearby Wentzville and Lake St Louis has encroached on the viewable north-facing sky, very intensely. There was no chance of seeing this spectacle as a result, which was very disappointing, after having driven 35 minutes out from the city.

The second problem, was the proximity to the parking lot. People were constantly coming and going, with an almost nonstop (and horribly annoying) parade of headlights interfering in the viewing area. There is no buffer at all from the parking area. One guy I had to literally walk up to and tap on his window and request he turn his headlights off, because they were shining right into the viewing area, as he was just sitting there idling.

It's a shame, because it really is a well layed out and equipped astronomy site. Suburban development and peoples lack of courtesy leaves me recommending that people just drive further out, if you really want a clear sky viewing experience. You'll be sorely...

On Saturday night about 9:30pm, my friend and I decided to get away and look at the stars at this site. We parked in the lot and got out blankets as it was a little chilly, and we got on the hood of the car and were staring at the stars. Not even 5 minutes later, what I am assuming was a park ranger, pulled up in the lot, shining his headlights on us, and got out of the car. He told us that “the park is only used for adults actually trying to study astronomy.” We were not creating a disturbance whatsoever and were simply viewing the stars on the hood of the car. He procceeded to say that “two kids under a blanket” seems suspicious and it’s “not what the county wants”. He mentioned that having a telescope would be more acceptable because us laying under a blanket makes him “think things.” We are both 17 year old females just looking for something to do on a Saturday night, but instead were rudely interrupted and kicked out within 10 minutes of being there. Unfortunately as we are young, we can not afford a telescope and equipment just to look at the stars for one night. With the unprofessional misconduct and the use of oversexualization, we will not...

The fact that a site like this exists is wonderful. For anyone with a computerized telescope needing power, and on dewy nights there are power outlets at each pad, which is a bonus when you get dew and need to run a hair dryer to warm up the optics. My random visit on a friday night had almost all the pads full of telescopes (I was expecting an empty park) with, as always, friendly amateur astronomers willing to let you look at the night sky through their equipment. Seriously what could be better than a tailor made astronomy park!!! The only negatives are that the park is in fairly close proximity to St. Louis and as such you do get some glow in the sky. Finally I encourage everyone to turn off lights when pulling into the lot and carefully maneuver with parking lights only. While it would make sense that the pads should be further from the lot, large telescopes are very very heavy and the shorter the walk the better. I can't wait to...