🔭 Look up at the stars | Outdoorsy Newsletter

I have a huge affinity for all things made of star stuff.

Galaxies, planets, constellations... really, the vast universe, or as Carl Sagan calls the cosmos, “the greatest of mysteries.” I’d chalk it up to my astrological sign, but I’ve been intrigued by supermassive black holes long before I knew “Mercury is in retrograde” (that just ended, by the way). I shared it here before, but you only have to watch the first five minutes of Sagan’s epic TV series to get it. It’s also fun to keep up with NASA’s Instagram and see what the James Webb telescope catches in the distance.

Today, we follow a beginner’s guide to stargazing in and near Philadelphia, then we’ll tour a self-sustaining Hobbit-like home, catch our breath at a creek, and end the day in Valley Forge.

📮 What are you doing outdoors these days? Tell me about your experience by emailing me back.

☀️ Your weekend weather outlook: Enjoy the breeze and mostly clear and sunny skies, with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the 60s. Sunday will approach 80° and an afternoon shower may materialize.

🌊 Risky surf conditions and rip currents are expected along the coast as Hurricane Lee moves away from us and toward New England and Nova Scotia. Hurricane season still has more than 10 weeks left.

— Paola Pérez

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Looking beyond our atmosphere can be as impressive as it is ominous at times. We’re so far away, some of the sparkly specks we see right now may have already faded away and out of existence. You could call it a glimpse into a past life.

What is out there? If you’ve always been curious about the night sky and want to take up stargazing, here’s your sign. In this guide, you’ll find:

🔭 The best places to stargaze near (and far) from here

🔭 All the necessary equipment

🔭 Tips to understand light pollution

🔭 Our pick of the top apps to help identify what’s in the sky

Keep reading for our recommendations to get the most out of stargazing in our area.

🎤 Now we’re passing the microphone to Jason Nark. You’ll always find his work here.

At first glance, the long glass building on a sun-soaked hillside in this rural Schuylkill County town is obviously a greenhouse. It’s a home too, though, in the vein of The Hobbit, or will be in a few more years, builder Will Vogler said. It’s also a natural heating and cooling system and a water filtration plant off the grid, in the woods. Vogler calls his 80-foot-by-50-foot building the “Tamaqua Sustainability Project,” inspired by a decades-old architecture developed in the high desert of New Mexico.

“When I look at it, I see an engine, " the Ambler resident said beside his project.

That’s what Mike Reynolds, a 78-year-old architect, intended when he created the first “Earthship” with old beer cans and used tires in Taos in 1979. People made fun of his dream for decades. “I was the crazy hippie in the desert building houses out of garbage,” Reynolds told The Inquirer. “I was ridiculed and abused. I even lost my architecture license in one state.”

A combination of climate change, catastrophic weather events, water scarcity, and power grid failures have cast the Earthship “biotecture” in a new light, however. Reynolds said there’s about 3,000 already built, globally, some as far as New Zealand and Australia. He’s still building more in a 630-acre subdivision in Taos and said they’re all sold before they’re finished. “The world went to hell in a handbag and people began to look to us for an alternative,” he said.

Today, Reynolds thinks there’s no structure better designed to combat climate change and survive in it than the Earthship. — Jason Nark

Keep reading to learn more about this unique structure and The Tamaqua Sustainability Project.

It’s true: spotted lanternflies are showing up on Jersey Shore beaches.

But what’s an invasive species that loves trees and vegetation doing in such a sandy place?

Some stubborn breezes that have been plauging beach-goers the last few weeks maybe to blame.

This is not their typical environment, so they will likely not fare well there. This might explain why most of them were dead or dying along the tide line.

Keep reading to catch up with my colleague Amy S. Rosenberg on what’s going on down the Shore.

🎤 Jason says: I took this at Clear Creek State Park on a road trip to Western Pennsylvania.

Crystal clear and grounded.

Thanks to Outdoorsy reader Carol Neilson for sharing this breathtaking photo taken Valley Forge National Historic Park.

My camera roll is full of sunrises and sunsets. Every single time, the colors painted above and all around captivate me. I exchange pictures with family and friends and it feels like a warm embrace, and subtle reminder that we’re under the same sky.

I’ll share some of my favorites in a future edition.

📮 Send me a review of your outdoors experience for a chance to be featured in this newsletter by emailing me back.

🎵 Here’s a song for all you dizzy stargazers out there: “New Constellations” by Ryn Weaver.”

Nature calls. Take care, and see you for next week’s adventure.