4 ms·
I'm in the Southern Hemisphere and even in my nearest "large" city, you can still see the Milky Way on a clear night. Not in all its glory, mind, but you can se
by EdwardDiego 4y ago
I'm in the Southern Hemisphere and even in my nearest "large" city, you can still see the Milky Way on a clear night. Not in all its glory, mind, but you can see it, and Crux Australis, such a definitive Southern Hemisphere constellation that it appears on five national flags. Although it can be hard to see Epsilon Crucis in a city, as it's a bit dimmer than the four main stars.
But then I travelled to far more densely populated Northern Hemisphere countries, and wow, I see what light pollution is, I really wanted to see Orion right side up, but wasn't able to get far enough away from populated areas when the sky was clear.
Another benefit of living on a sparsely populated island I guess, not sure if it offsets all of the downsides (island "tax" is real, small economy makes it hard to challenge incumbents who dominate a market, we get very few concerts from the top bands, often left off maps), but it did make appreciate what we have in terms of the night sky.
I'm a real big fan of dark sky reserves, it's a fantastic idea. [0]
[0]: https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/reserves/ https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/reserves/
- alias_neo 4y agoI'm from England, where we don't see many of the stars and when we were university students (over a decade ago now), my wife and I were in Switzerland, up a "hill" near Caux Palace; it was the first and only time I've seen the milky way and the only time I'd ever seen the night sky that way; without light pollution. I hope to do it again, somewhere, some day because it's an incredible experiencev to just lie on the grass in complete darkness like I've never known at home and let you eyes adjust to just show full the night sky is.
- anonymous_sorry 4y agoBest plan to do it soon. The view will soon be littered with satellites. https://earthsky.org/space/satellites-versus-stars-night-sky-kessler-syndrome/ https://earthsky.org/space/satellites-versus-stars-night-sky...
- sbierwagen 4y ago>Satellites shine by reflecting the sun’s light. For this reason, they’re usually only visible during the beginning of night and as morning approaches, when the sun’s rays can still reach them high above Earth. But at latitudes such as 50 degrees north and south, locals will see satellites all night long near the summer solstice, and near sunrise and sunset on the equinoxes. The sky will be clean during winter, once you get an hour away from sunset.
- Archelaos 4y agoIt depends very much on where you are in England. If you want to find the spots next to you where you can see the Milky Way, here is a project that maps the light polution in England: https://landuse.co.uk/portfolio-items/night-blight/ https://landuse.co.uk/portfolio-items/night-blight/
- 2b3a51 4y agoMid-Wales and Northumberland tie in with my own limited experience. Also https://www.nationalparks.uk/dark-skies/ https://www.nationalparks.uk/dark-skies/ Highlands of Scotland a good bet as well. https://gostargazing.co.uk/regions/country/scotland/highlands-scotland/ https://gostargazing.co.uk/regions/country/scotland/highland... There are shades of sky darkness. Estimating the limiting magnitude you can see on a given night is a fun thing to do... https://nineplanets.org/estimating-limiting-magnitude/ https://nineplanets.org/estimating-limiting-magnitude/
- pbhjpbhj 4y agoThere's also the Dark Sky project, https://www.darksky.org/ https://www.darksky.org/.
- alias_neo 4y agoThanks. I see the festival is at a time of year I'd be too cold to hang out outdoors, do any of these places have purpose built shelters with clean/clear covers so you can be warm but see the sky?
- alias_neo 4y agoI've almost always lived in cities unfortunately in this case, just left London for another city.