Dome sweet dome

Not to recap the whole New York Times, but Wednesday's Travel section featured this story on "astronomy villages"--housing developments created for and by amateur astronomers, where dark-sky rules are part of community code.

The first of these "planned communities" is thought to be the Chiefland Astronomy Village about three hours north of Tampa Bay. There's also Arizona Sky Village, which doubles as a birding haven.

Of course, if you care enough about dark skies you could always buy your own lot on some Arizona mountaintop and not have to fuss with an HOA. But as Dan Ford, a resident of Georgia's Deerlick Astronomy Village, told the New York Times, “It’s just not as much fun sitting out in the dark by yourself.”