4 ms·

Whew. I was wondering if I was the only one who has been out in the mountains and other rural areas, but have never seen a night sky like these.

hippobravo 14y ago
If there is literally no light pollution in your vicinity (like in the middle of northern canada, hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest small town) on a very very clear night it does look something like this. I've never seen the milky way with that much color, but the amount of stars and the star clouds of the milky way are not that far off. The title is not just removing light pollution, it is removing most of the atmospheric interference. On clear cold nights you can get something close to this if you're truly in the middle of nowhere. Emphasis on clear and no towns within a few hundred kilometers.
- tanzam75 14y ago
  I remember the Milky Way looking very ... milky. It's just a dim white haze -- much dimmer than the stars surrounding it. The reason it doesn't really look like the photos is that we don't have CCDs in our eyes. When things get dim enough, we lose a lot of color perception. (That's why night scenes look practically monochrome.)
Anechoic 14y ago
Having spent some time in the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire, the sky I saw looked a lot like those pictures, I think they are fair depictions. I definitely remember it as being my first and only time when I could actually see the Milky Way. (it's also a little freaky being above a thunderstorm at night)
rquantz 14y ago
The summer I was 13 I went to summer camp in Minnesota, and one clear night the counselors took us in a bus out away from the camp, to a hilltop, and we lay on our backs and looked up. I could see the band of the milky way across the sky, and so many colors. I have never seen a night sky like that before or since. It was as vivid as these images depict.
grayrest 14y ago
The stars look like this in the fall, in the western US, 60+ miles from the nearest city, and above 5000 ft. I've spent a lot more nights camping on the east coast and while you can see the milky way if you're remote enough, the altitude or the humidity or something makes the stars dimmer.
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  Yeah, my brother lives outside Flagstaff, which has strict light pollution laws and is at 7000 ft. On clear nights the view from his front yard is ridiculously gorgeous.
officemonkey 14y ago
I grew up in rural New York and once, when camping, we stayed up very late with all the lights off. You would be amazed at how much your eyes eventually see after a couple hours in darkness. We could see Satellites, the Milky Way, and even the "Horse and Rider" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_and_Rider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_and_Rider). Nowadays, with phones and ipod, it's nearly impossible to let your eyes adjust that long without light. But it's worth it.
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  There's probably an app (that has probably been done) in there for making the screen show in hues of red. Or, if not an app then a screen protector that's a gel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_gel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_gel).
  - Zak 14y ago
    There's an app for that: http://stereopsis.com/flux/ http://stereopsis.com/flux/
femto 14y ago
t also helps to give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. I've spent a few nights in the Australian outback, about 100km+ from any population greater than half a dozen or so. Initially, the view seems ho-hum, but stay outside in the dark for half an hour or so and it becomes amazing.
- Someone 14y ago
  And do stay away from _any_ light at least during that half hour. Rods take that time to fully adapt to the dark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation_(eye)#Dark_Adaptation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation_(eye)#Dark_Adaptatio...; I think some experts claim even longer times). Since light adaptation goes much faster, even a short glance at a light means you need minutes to get fully dark adapted again.

hippobravo 14y ago

If there is literally no light pollution in your vicinity (like in the middle of northern canada, hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest small town) on a very very clear night it does look something like this. I've never seen the milky way with that much color, but the amount of stars and the star clouds of the milky way are not that far off. The title is not just removing light pollution, it is removing most of the atmospheric interference. On clear cold nights you can get something close to this if you're truly in the middle of nowhere. Emphasis on clear and no towns within a few hundred kilometers.

tanzam75 14y ago
I remember the Milky Way looking very ... milky. It's just a dim white haze -- much dimmer than the stars surrounding it. The reason it doesn't really look like the photos is that we don't have CCDs in our eyes. When things get dim enough, we lose a lot of color perception. (That's why night scenes look practically monochrome.)

Anechoic 14y ago

Having spent some time in the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire, the sky I saw looked a lot like those pictures, I think they are fair depictions. I definitely remember it as being my first and only time when I could actually see the Milky Way. (it's also a little freaky being above a thunderstorm at night)

rquantz 14y ago

The summer I was 13 I went to summer camp in Minnesota, and one clear night the counselors took us in a bus out away from the camp, to a hilltop, and we lay on our backs and looked up. I could see the band of the milky way across the sky, and so many colors. I have never seen a night sky like that before or since. It was as vivid as these images depict.

grayrest 14y ago

The stars look like this in the fall, in the western US, 60+ miles from the nearest city, and above 5000 ft. I've spent a lot more nights camping on the east coast and while you can see the milky way if you're remote enough, the altitude or the humidity or something makes the stars dimmer.

waterlesscloud 14y ago
Yeah, my brother lives outside Flagstaff, which has strict light pollution laws and is at 7000 ft. On clear nights the view from his front yard is ridiculously gorgeous.

officemonkey 14y ago

I grew up in rural New York and once, when camping, we stayed up very late with all the lights off. You would be amazed at how much your eyes eventually see after a couple hours in darkness. We could see Satellites, the Milky Way, and even the "Horse and Rider" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_and_Rider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_and_Rider). Nowadays, with phones and ipod, it's nearly impossible to let your eyes adjust that long without light. But it's worth it.

pbhjpbhj 14y ago
There's probably an app (that has probably been done) in there for making the screen show in hues of red. Or, if not an app then a screen protector that's a gel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_gel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_gel).
- Zak 14y ago
  There's an app for that: http://stereopsis.com/flux/ http://stereopsis.com/flux/

femto 14y ago

t also helps to give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. I've spent a few nights in the Australian outback, about 100km+ from any population greater than half a dozen or so. Initially, the view seems ho-hum, but stay outside in the dark for half an hour or so and it becomes amazing.

Someone 14y ago
And do stay away from _any_ light at least during that half hour. Rods take that time to fully adapt to the dark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation_(eye)#Dark_Adaptation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation_(eye)#Dark_Adaptatio...; I think some experts claim even longer times). Since light adaptation goes much faster, even a short glance at a light means you need minutes to get fully dark adapted again.