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Lately, meteor shower watching has turned into a bit of a letdown compared to my childhood experiences. Back then, I grew up in a small town blessed with consis
by susam 3y ago
Lately, meteor shower watching has turned into a bit of a letdown compared to my childhood experiences. Back then, I grew up in a small town blessed with consistently clear and dark skies, where meteor showers were nothing short of spectacular.
As a kid, the notion of a night sky having any hue other than pitch black seemed unimaginable. But now I find myself residing in a city with severe light pollution, casting an orange glow across the sky. The radiance from street lamps significantly dulls the experience. Instead of watching a few meteors streak across the sky every minute, I now find myself waiting patiently for several minutes just to catch a glimpse of one!
I have written a little more about it here: <https://susam.net/maze/dark-night-skies.html https://susam.net/maze/dark-night-skies.html>. Consider it a skygazer's lament.
- arwineap 3y agoDon't be afraid to drive a bit to get a good show. We drive ~5hrs every year to get outside of LA and inside the darkest bits I can find. It's worth it, I don't know how else to keep the wonder about the universe alive with my son
- boneitis 3y agoI hadn't necessarily grown up meteorgazing, but it had always been a thing to drive away from the city (and, dare i say, added to the treat of it to have to do that) in order to reveal the skies. But California these days seems to bring yet another "record-breaking" wildfire season every year now that completely obscures the view during the Perseids. I suppose that's not as likely to be a worry for the Quadrantids, though. A letdown, nonetheless.