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My key takeaway from this article is that the best place to go see the Milky Way is deep in the Amazon rainforest… where the tree cover is nearly 100% and there
by throwup238 2y ago
My key takeaway from this article is that the best place to go see the Milky Way is deep in the Amazon rainforest… where the tree cover is nearly 100% and there isn’t a single road for a hundred miles.
That’s a neat collection of graphics. I’m curious how bespoke the creation process is for each graphic or if this is something everyone just does in ArcGis or similar.
That last graphic about the Western US being the only other candidate is interesting because the two sides of the Rockies weren’t connected by a highway until the I70 over Glenwood Canyon was completed in 1992. Before its completion, the western and eastern halves of Colorado were practically different states and it took the interstate highway project half a century to get there because the terrain was so challenging.
- jprete 2y agoI think the graphics have numerous sources and mostly/entirely aren't made by the post author. There are five different styles in the first six map images!
- FinnKuhn 2y agoThe problem with your takeaway is that you a) won't be able to realistically get deep into the amazon rainforest and b) the tree canopy would cover all of the sky ;)
- HPsquared 2y agoAlso, there's likely to be cloud cover and mist, etc. Rainforest!
- namenotrequired 2y agoYep. It's way easier to take a boat to the middle of the ocean - fewer roads than even in the amazon :) and the best starry sky of my life
- probably_wrong 2y agoThis is a dream of mine, to soend the night far away from land that there's nothing around but water. Did you already have sea experience, or did you just rent a boat and gave it a try?
- sandworm101 2y ago>> just rent a boat and gave it a try? As someone who once worked tangentially in search and rescue, please do not even consider this. The ocean is a serious thing, doubly so at night. Unless you are renting a boat large enough to come with its own staff, please do not just head over the horizon simply to see the stars. And fyi, the stars at sea move as the boat you stand on moves. They are brighter, but also more blurry.
- langcss 2y agoWould a simple cruise ship ticket do it? Or be too lit up at night?
- sandworm101 2y agoCruise ships dont have dark decks or other places to view the ocean directly at night. It would be like standing on your porch with the exterior lights of ypur house left on. Avoiding light pollution is not really about seeing stars through light pollution. Thats for astronomers with telescopes. For human eyes it is more about being dark enough thay your iris can relax and let in more light. Try a dark forest, even a city park, surrounded by trees but able to see up. You will see more stars even if inside an urban area.
- lazide 2y agoAlso an area that is dark enough for ‘far enough’ that your eyes will naturally adjust to pick up these faint light sources. While some adjustment happens even in a few minutes, the difference between that and after several hours of darkness is mind blowing. Most folks in a city likely have never been able to experience being able to walk by true starlight on a moonless night, and seeing clearly. It would be nearly impossible to get the right conditions even with a lot of effort. A city park may be okay ish, but you’re unlikely to ever get the level of sight you’d get walking on a deserted playa in the desert. Not enough time with true darkness, and too much other light pollution.
- grecy 2y agoI've been to many places around the world from the Amazon rainforest to the Atacama Desert in Chile to right around Africa. Without a shadow of a doubt, the interior of Australia is STAGGERINGLY the best for stargazing. It's not even close. This was a single 8 second exposure. [1] and I'm not a great photographer. The milky way was so bright it kept me awake in my tent. [1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CersLuLBfCz/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CersLuLBfCz/
- helpfulContrib 2y agoAustralian here, spent my youth in the deep West. I found your description inspiring. I remember feeling, once, that night time was when everything in the universe could be seen, and daytime was when we slept in the shade of the sun, away from it all.
- grecy 2y agoI grew up in rural Australia. We had Japanese exchange students in High School, and the teachers stayed in our house (Mum & Dad were teachers). Even though I was only ~15, I have a very strong memory of the 50, 60 and 70 year old Japanese people staying outside until all hours stargazing. They had never seen stars before.
- throwaway2037 2y ago> They had never seen stars before. What? Even in a large park in Tokyo, you can see stars. What a silly comment.
- helpfulContrib 2y ago[dead]
- oldmariner 2y agoCan't see the pictures due to login required :-( I've been on a dark ship in the middle of the ocean and that was pretty good for stargazing, though I guess Australia might be a tiny bit better due to less reflective surface (compared to the ocean)?
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago> the two sides of the Rockies weren’t connected by a highway until the I70 over Glenwood Canyon was completed in 1992. US 40, 6, and 50 would like a word. They weren't connected by an interstate before that. But you said "highway". US 6 was a highway, and it ran through the exact same Glenwood Canyon.
- throwup238 2y agoFair point about the exact terminology but those are tiny two lane roads with impassable grades for the majority of commercial traffic. The term highway has drifted in colloquial use (hence your use of the word “was”).
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoYes, they were two lane roads. But no, they did not have impassable grades. Neither Loveland nor Berthoud Pass were easy, especially in winter, but they did in fact carry lots of commercial traffic (though I would think twice about sending an oversized load over them). In fact, to this day the old two-lane road of US 6 over Loveland Pass is used to keep hazardous material out of the I-70 tunnels. I mean, I remember around 1968-69, before they finished building Interstate 80 up Echo Canyon, and that tiny two-lane road had to take all the commercial traffic that there was on "the main street of North America".
- kelnos 2y ago> The term highway has drifted in colloquial use No it hasn't. "Highway" encompasses a lot of levels of road. If you're referring to an interstate, say so. That's the only thing that actually means that, and only that.
- fullstop 2y ago> My key takeaway from this article is that the best place to go see the Milky Way is deep in the Amazon rainforest… where the tree cover is nearly 100% and there isn’t a single road for a hundred miles. Check out Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Springs_State_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Springs_State_Park
- jaggederest 2y agoPine Mountain Observatory, if you're on the West coast, has some of the darkest skies, best weather and stable atmosphere for good seeing. 24 inch telescope, too. https://pmo.uoregon.edu/ https://pmo.uoregon.edu/
- RoyalHenOil 2y agoYou can see a brighter part of the Milky Way in the Southern hemisphere than you can in the Northern hemisphere.
- xeromal 2y agoIt's a fantastic drive if you've never done it
- tambourine_man 2y agoIt rains almost everyday, mostly in the late evening and night. My guess is clouds would be your main concern, not light pollution.
- tylermw 2y agoSeveral of the maps were made by Twitter users @researchremora and @cstats1, using R and the rayshader package.
- w4der 2y agoNot really, that would probably be the north of Chile on the Atacama desert, there's a reason why the Extremely Large Telescope, Giant Magellan Telescope and Vera C. Rubin are being built there.
- msmitha 2y agoCan confirm, was there in 2001. The clarity of the air owing to lack of moisture and no light pollution means you get amazing views of the milky way.
- perfectstorm 2y agoi'm going to assume that commoners like us don't have access to that telescope.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- LargoLasskhyfv 2y agoIt wouldn't give you the bombastic views you are used to from press realeases. Those are all longer exposure, at different wavelengths, stitched together digitally. With your bare eye in the focal point of that thing you'd just see Jupiter and some of its moons, the Rings of Saturn, some extrasolar nebulae and some galaxies better than with common amateur telesecopes. Otherwise just more and brighter stars, with some more hints of color. You'd have more immersion by using binoculars with a wide field of view, and low magnification, like 10 to 20, maybe 30 times. But the latter with a wide field of view are rather heavy, so bring a foldable camping chair to lie down on, and some contraption to have the binoc hanging down on you, easily movable, but not shaky. Or a tripod, but they are impractical for looking straight up. (with common binocular eye-pieces)
- jerojero 2y agoPretty sure you can rent telescope time it's just booked so you might have to wait. You can still go physically, there's tours and such. But it doesn't make sense for a physicist to go there when all the imagery is captured by a computer anyway. Also, if you've been to those altitudes you know it's not a walk in the park either!
- guidoism 2y agoThe most amazing sky I’ve ever seen was when I arrived in Urubichá in Guarayos region of Bolivia in 1998 before the electricity arrived in the area. I traveled by bus to visit my friend’s childhood home. The bus only went to the big city an hour away so I road in the back of a jeep the rest of the way, at night. I remember vividly not understanding what this super-bright light was in the sky. I know now it was either Venus or Jupiter, but it looked artificial because it was so much brighter than I was used to seeing.
- eps 2y agoVenus always appears near the sun (hence the "morning star" moniker).
- usr1106 2y agoIf it's near the sun you cannot see it in the middle of the night (except in polar areas during summer). But why only morning and not evening?
- fifilura 2y agoMornings and evenings. It is because its path is closer to the Sun. So when looking towards it you are always partly looking towards the Sun.
- usr1106 2y agoSo you are saying the morning star name is technically wrong? It should be the morning and evening star? Of course star is wrong, too...
- defrost 2y agoYou'd prefer the more accurate and historic Wandering Star? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_planet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_planet
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- nine_k 2y agoRather, go to Atacama, in Chile. It's a desert with pretty transparent air and little to no clouds, far from anywhere, and easier to traverse than a forest. It's also rather closer to the South pole, so not as hot as Amazon.
- MVissers 2y agoAgree with this. It’s the most beautiful night sky I’ve ever seen. The stars seemed to shine 10x brighter than other places, even those without light pollution.
- user_7832 2y agoApparently the desert in Kashmir (I think Ladakh specifically) is also excellent for astronomy for similar reasons - a dry desert, cool due to its altitude, and also benefits from thinner air causing lesser distortion.
- pyinstallwoes 2y agoHow’s the insect situation?
- jfkfif 2y agoIn the desert? It’s the driest place in the world
- kzrdude 2y agoThere's a lot of big telescopes in north chile too
- dbacar 2y agoYou should have very dry air for the best place, which I guess with all that Amazon rainforest thing, would not be your best option. Chile has the one of the driest deserts in the world.
- TechDebtDevin 2y agoI've lived on both the eastern and western slopes of Colorado. They are still practically two different states culturally and economically.
- mapmeld 2y agoMy nomination for night sky viewing: Ölgii in western Mongolia (was there for the golden eagle festival). Clear desert sky, accessible by airplane, not a tiny town either.
- gcanyon 2y agoThe sky from the top of Mauna Kea is ridiculous, and it's pretty easy to get there: fly to the big island of Hawaii, then sign up for the tour, I think it's less than $100. The milky way is stunning.
- jameshart 2y agoJust check the lunar phase before you book. Made the mistake of being in Hawaii during the full moon, so we didn’t get much of a view of the stars on our Mauna Kea trip. Don’t get me wrong - the experience of visiting to the top and watching the telescopes opening up was worth the trip, but we missed out on a real stargazing opportunity. And we did see a fireball meteor, so that kinda made up for it. But I don’t think those are guaranteed.
- garof 2y agoThey make a map for this: https://www.darkskymap.com/nightSkyBrightness https://www.darkskymap.com/nightSkyBrightness For the North American peeps, check out the western part of the US. *edit: and forecasts https://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/ https://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/
- bradknowles 2y agoThe astrophotography communities I am a member of tend to use the Bortle scale map at https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/ https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/ This one is more mobile-friendly, IMO.
- pininja 2y agoI love these maps, it’s an awesome collection! I make data vis maps for my day job and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that each of these are completely bespoke, made by different people, using a unique technique - python, hand drawing, ArcGIS, Blender, and even R can be used to make these, and I usually use deck.gl They’re fun to make combining design, data, graphics programming, and lots of fiddling to get the tools to do what you want!
- EdwardDiego 2y agoJust come to NZ, go to the Dark Sky Reserve centered around Lake Tekapo and enjoy the Milky Way in all its glory. We have zero snakes and very few dangerous spiders and you'd have to try very hard to find them, they're rather shy. Also, we make great coffee and beer.
- tomrod 2y agoNZ sounds heavenly.
- mandibeet 2y agoI thought that Hawaii is the best place to go see the Milky Way