8 ms·

I can relate to this. I somehow got in to hiking and camping sometime after college. While my family traveled a good amount, it was never to hike or camp or to

I can relate to this. I somehow got in to hiking and camping sometime after college. While my family traveled a good amount, it was never to hike or camp or to remote areas. On my first camping trip in the White Mountains in NH on the 3rd or 4th night I looked up and saw the Milky Way. I was blown away. At this point in my life I was an adult, with responsibilities, a healthy interest in science, and I never really put much thought in to it and I guess figured that whenever I saw starry night pictures that included the Milky Way that it was through a telescope, or an artists rendition, or something. Definitely not that you could actually see the Milky Way with your own eyes. To be honest it's insane. If you haven't seen the Milky Way with your own eyes, go.

seszett 12y ago
I don't want to be too much of a killjoy, but I never understood what was all that fuss about stars. Maybe that's because I've had the reverse experience: I grew up in a place seeing a large amount of stars, where seeing the Milky Way was just expected, and then I moved to larger cities where you can barely see the brightest stars. Well, even though it sure is nice to see the stars when I happen to be in a darker place, I never really missed them at any point. They're a nice feature of the environment, but not something really critical, just like the bird chirps. They're nice to hear on the morning, but you barely notice when they aren't there. When I'm in a city I'm more concerned about the wasted energy revealed by light pollution, and the annoying sound of roaring cars at most hours.
- Raphmedia 12y ago
  It's as major an issue as not being able to see the blue sky because of the air pollution. Sure, the light won't give you cancer, but it's still pollution that should be avoided.
  - davidcuddeback 12y ago
    > the light won't give you cancer There are studies that suggest that city lights increase people's risk of cancer. Sleep studies have shown that exposure to blue light suppresses melatonin [1]. Studies with lab mice have shown that melatonin suppresses tumor growth. I don't know how solid the science is on this, so take it with a grain of salt. [1] This is the reason many people use f.lux (https://justgetflux.com/ https://justgetflux.com/).
- joeyspn 12y ago
  It is not about being able to "watch the stars"... it is more about experiencing and realising for a moment how tiny you are while beholding the cosmos. It is about putting things (even your whole life) into perspective... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M
  - seszett 12y ago
    I know that, right. But I have firsthand experience of the facts that: - being able to watch the stars won't automatically make people put things into perspective - watching the stars, while a good way to put things into perspective, isn't the only one Stars are not a fundamental element of human life experience, just a nice but dispensable thing. Even your Youtube link doesn't show anything a human can see, and just showing a random picture of a starfield wouldn't really have much effect on most people. Seeing plain stars only works if the people who watch them already have knowledge about them, basic understanding of the involved distances, etc. It is this knowledge that help you put things into perspective, not seeing the stars themselves.
    - ChuckMcM 12y ago
      I think the difference may be it isn't the effect on 'other people' it is the effect on 'you'. I find it is a lot like art in that way, some pieces really move people and other people can see the same piece and say 'meh'. The trick is to understand that while the art doesn't do anything for you, it really is doing something for them. Having raised kids and watched their interaction the "interesting" bit is that person A who is unmoved by exhibit E, imputes that person B is "making it up" when they express emotion about exhibit E. It isn't "made up" or imagined of course, but it takes a while for kids to realize that everyone's perception of the world around them is different, sometimes wildly so. Often that learning comes when they personally experience seeing meaning in something that someone else doesn't. Once you understand that everyone sees things a bit differently you can appreciate their sense of wonder even if you don't share it. I can't really agree on this point ... Seeing plain stars only works if the people who watch them already have knowledge about them, basic understanding of the involved distances, etc. It is this knowledge that help you put things into perspective, not seeing the stars themselves. There is ample evidence in early written accounts and from the writing of young people that without any knowledge at all about what stars "really are" they can be moved by seeing them.
- scrumper 12y ago
  Rather a shame your comment is greying out. It's not offensive, just an unpopular opinion. For some people it's an intrinsically beautiful sight. Others, a reminder of their place in spiritual creation. To me, it's incredible that we can see such a gigantic, distant structure so clearly, in a way which gives us a tangible sense of our location in the galaxy. The night sky is a springboard for thought: what if we lived nearer the galactic center? The sky would be bright all the time, bright as day. Likely we'd never have figured out that we live in a solar system in a galaxy; without sight of the stars and a diurnal cycle, science wouldn't have developed along the same lines. Maybe without astronomy, we'd never have ventured into the oceans. Conceivably, technological civilization would be beyond our reach. We are lucky indeed in our birthplace, for more reasons than its climate and atmosphere. I hope that gives you some idea what the 'fuss' is about, even if it's just my perspective.
  - IvyMike 12y ago
    If you haven't, please read Asimov's short story "Nightfall". Your comment was made for it. http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/AST389/TEXTS/Nightfall.htm http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/AST389/TEXTS/Nightfall.h...
    - mturmon 12y ago
      You are right. The story touches in a thought-provoking way on several of the points raised by the parent comment.
    - scrumper 12y ago
      I was not aware so I just did - thanks. Very much enjoyed that.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- HCIdivision17 12y ago
  I had a nearly identical "so what" thought when I went to college. I had just settled into my dorm when one of my roommates called us over to ogle some freshmen girls in short shorts somewhere walking by. They were preoccupied about it, but I had grown up in Florida near the gulf. I was honestly surprised by their interest: I had never met these young ladies and thus they were just unremarkable background people. But these guys acted like they had found an oasis in a desert. Sure they were pretty, but most girls were, right? I was informed that my opinion was incorrect and confusingly out of touch with reality. In contrast, I once went to the Hayden planetarium and saw the galaxy for the first time. If I'm honest, I may be willing to admit I teared up more than a little. The experience utterly awestruck me, and that was merely a simulation. Bad eyesight combined with poor night vision and light pollution means I had never seen the Milky Way. Hell, the first time I got glasses in second grade was the first time I could make out leaves on a tree! Up to that point, they were just this thing I knew was there, but I had never seen one rustling in the wind. Just some shape blobbing about. To this day, I can be content to just sit outside and watch trees sway in the wind for an hour. It honestly is just the most peaceful thing to see such detail moving all at once. A lot of people just don't understand it, as trees are about as ordinary as you can get; but to me, I remember how they used to look (and can just remove my glasses). They're rich in beauty. TL;DR: If you lived without it, you'd be amazed how much you'll appreciate it.
  - egypturnash 12y ago
    I recently shifted to contact lenses. The one thing I really miss is going out to a park, taking off my glasses, and seeing what my brain finds in the images my very nearsighted eyes give me when I watch the trees sway in the wind.
  - dreamweapon 12y ago
    I was informed that my opinion was incorrect and confusingly out of touch with reality. Little did they know that what really turns some of those young women on are not so much guys with muscles and tans, as... guys who are into planetariums, the Hubble sequence, tinkering with Maxwell's equations and such; and able to explain it all, while camping in the desert on a moonless night.
- ericcumbee 12y ago
  I grew up in a rural area, and still live in what most would consider a rural area. So I grew up with being able to look up at the stars at night. I don't look at the stars often. But I can not imagine living somewhere that I can't because of the light pollution. But I very much prefer the sound of crickets, and owls at night to the dull roar of cars, sirens, horns, etc.
- colefichter 12y ago
  So astronomy isn't your thing, that's cool. Perhaps you'd be more moved by considering just how much energy and money are wasted to create that light pollution? That's another important part of the issue.
- RogerL 12y ago
  I grew up in the White Mountains mentioned in the post you are responding to. I am still bowled over by the stars, by the moon, any nature, really. I suggest the difference is merely that we are different people, not that where we were born formed our appreciation.
sveme 12y ago
Experienced something similarly mind-blowing. Coming from foggy Northern Germany, I travelled to the east coast of Australia and went up the coast on a sailing boat. The night sky was so immense that I never really slept inside, instead always tried to find a place outside to spent the night watching the milky way in all its glory. Breathtaking. Every couple of minutes a falling star shot by, sometimes exploding, sometimes fizzling out. It's been more than fifteen years now and I can still clearly remember this experience and the emotions it created. Now that this comes back, I need to go back up a mountain, leave civilization, as soon as possible.
crikli 12y ago
Absolutely agree. I backcountry hike several times a year and always seem to forget how easy the galaxy is to see once you "get away from it all." When you're in town, you can't see it. When you're in the backcountry, you can't NOT see it.
- mrfusion 12y ago
  That sounds fun. How does one get started with backcountry hiking?
  - reportingsjr 12y ago
    Start doing research about gear you will need for backpacking and where to go near you. State parks are great places to backpack. It took my SO and I about 3 months from initial research to take our first trip. I absolutely love it and also go several times a year now. Just remember to take it slow! Always better to be over prepared than underprepared. Mother nature is not forgiving.
    - wmeredith 12y ago
      This is good advice. Start slow (short trips, close to civilization) and build up over time. Your experience will tell you what gear you need much better than any review site. One of the best places to actually START is just Google up a local park, grab a water bottle and do an out-and-back (e.g walk 15 minutes along the trail and then turn around and retrace your footsteps back to the trailhead.) You can do this over lunch.
      - robertfw 12y ago
        Great advice, especially with starting with super short trips. One of the most important things is clothing and these short trips will let you figure out a good set of shoes, how to layer clothes etc, without putting you at risk of being shivering cold with blistered feet in the middle of no where.
  - bdamm 12y ago
sp8 12y ago
I had the same experience while on a trip out near Uluru some years ago. Camping out in the middle of nowhere, looked up and.... wow. Never seen anything like it, and at this point in my life I conceivably won't again.
louthy 12y ago
The view from Mt. Everest base-camp (17,000ft) is outrageous! I have never seen anything like it and would recommend it to anyone (although I'd recommend going to Nepal and Tibet for lots of other reasons too).
waterlesscloud 12y ago
My brother lives about 10 miles outside Flagstaff Arizona. Flagstaff has anti-light pollution laws due to the observatory there, so all the lighting in town is shielded and directed all downward. Ten miles away on the other side of mountain it's very dark indeed. Add in the elevation at 7000 feet, and the often exceptionally clear skies and there's an overwhelming amount of stars to see. The Milky Way is so bright it always takes me time to realize that's what it actually is. And even though I'm familiar enough with constellations to use them as a sort of clock at home, I struggle to find the stars I know when I'm visiting him. There's just so many more!
Nicholas_C 12y ago
I had a similar experience. I grew up in the country and always took the clear sky sans light pollution for granted. I lived in the city for a few years for college and then work and then came back to the country to visit old friends. I was driving back to my parents old place one night and stopped and got out of my car in the middle of nowhere. I looked up and was blown away.

seszett 12y ago

I don't want to be too much of a killjoy, but I never understood what was all that fuss about stars. Maybe that's because I've had the reverse experience: I grew up in a place seeing a large amount of stars, where seeing the Milky Way was just expected, and then I moved to larger cities where you can barely see the brightest stars. Well, even though it sure is nice to see the stars when I happen to be in a darker place, I never really missed them at any point. They're a nice feature of the environment, but not something really critical, just like the bird chirps. They're nice to hear on the morning, but you barely notice when they aren't there. When I'm in a city I'm more concerned about the wasted energy revealed by light pollution, and the annoying sound of roaring cars at most hours.

Raphmedia 12y ago
It's as major an issue as not being able to see the blue sky because of the air pollution. Sure, the light won't give you cancer, but it's still pollution that should be avoided.
- davidcuddeback 12y ago
  > the light won't give you cancer There are studies that suggest that city lights increase people's risk of cancer. Sleep studies have shown that exposure to blue light suppresses melatonin [1]. Studies with lab mice have shown that melatonin suppresses tumor growth. I don't know how solid the science is on this, so take it with a grain of salt. [1] This is the reason many people use f.lux (https://justgetflux.com/ https://justgetflux.com/).
joeyspn 12y ago
It is not about being able to "watch the stars"... it is more about experiencing and realising for a moment how tiny you are while beholding the cosmos. It is about putting things (even your whole life) into perspective... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M
- seszett 12y ago
  I know that, right. But I have firsthand experience of the facts that: - being able to watch the stars won't automatically make people put things into perspective - watching the stars, while a good way to put things into perspective, isn't the only one Stars are not a fundamental element of human life experience, just a nice but dispensable thing. Even your Youtube link doesn't show anything a human can see, and just showing a random picture of a starfield wouldn't really have much effect on most people. Seeing plain stars only works if the people who watch them already have knowledge about them, basic understanding of the involved distances, etc. It is this knowledge that help you put things into perspective, not seeing the stars themselves.
  - ChuckMcM 12y ago
    I think the difference may be it isn't the effect on 'other people' it is the effect on 'you'. I find it is a lot like art in that way, some pieces really move people and other people can see the same piece and say 'meh'. The trick is to understand that while the art doesn't do anything for you, it really is doing something for them. Having raised kids and watched their interaction the "interesting" bit is that person A who is unmoved by exhibit E, imputes that person B is "making it up" when they express emotion about exhibit E. It isn't "made up" or imagined of course, but it takes a while for kids to realize that everyone's perception of the world around them is different, sometimes wildly so. Often that learning comes when they personally experience seeing meaning in something that someone else doesn't. Once you understand that everyone sees things a bit differently you can appreciate their sense of wonder even if you don't share it. I can't really agree on this point ... Seeing plain stars only works if the people who watch them already have knowledge about them, basic understanding of the involved distances, etc. It is this knowledge that help you put things into perspective, not seeing the stars themselves. There is ample evidence in early written accounts and from the writing of young people that without any knowledge at all about what stars "really are" they can be moved by seeing them.
scrumper 12y ago
Rather a shame your comment is greying out. It's not offensive, just an unpopular opinion. For some people it's an intrinsically beautiful sight. Others, a reminder of their place in spiritual creation. To me, it's incredible that we can see such a gigantic, distant structure so clearly, in a way which gives us a tangible sense of our location in the galaxy. The night sky is a springboard for thought: what if we lived nearer the galactic center? The sky would be bright all the time, bright as day. Likely we'd never have figured out that we live in a solar system in a galaxy; without sight of the stars and a diurnal cycle, science wouldn't have developed along the same lines. Maybe without astronomy, we'd never have ventured into the oceans. Conceivably, technological civilization would be beyond our reach. We are lucky indeed in our birthplace, for more reasons than its climate and atmosphere. I hope that gives you some idea what the 'fuss' is about, even if it's just my perspective.
- IvyMike 12y ago
  If you haven't, please read Asimov's short story "Nightfall". Your comment was made for it. http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/AST389/TEXTS/Nightfall.htm http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/AST389/TEXTS/Nightfall.h...
  - mturmon 12y ago
    You are right. The story touches in a thought-provoking way on several of the points raised by the parent comment.
  - scrumper 12y ago
    I was not aware so I just did - thanks. Very much enjoyed that.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
HCIdivision17 12y ago
I had a nearly identical "so what" thought when I went to college. I had just settled into my dorm when one of my roommates called us over to ogle some freshmen girls in short shorts somewhere walking by. They were preoccupied about it, but I had grown up in Florida near the gulf. I was honestly surprised by their interest: I had never met these young ladies and thus they were just unremarkable background people. But these guys acted like they had found an oasis in a desert. Sure they were pretty, but most girls were, right? I was informed that my opinion was incorrect and confusingly out of touch with reality. In contrast, I once went to the Hayden planetarium and saw the galaxy for the first time. If I'm honest, I may be willing to admit I teared up more than a little. The experience utterly awestruck me, and that was merely a simulation. Bad eyesight combined with poor night vision and light pollution means I had never seen the Milky Way. Hell, the first time I got glasses in second grade was the first time I could make out leaves on a tree! Up to that point, they were just this thing I knew was there, but I had never seen one rustling in the wind. Just some shape blobbing about. To this day, I can be content to just sit outside and watch trees sway in the wind for an hour. It honestly is just the most peaceful thing to see such detail moving all at once. A lot of people just don't understand it, as trees are about as ordinary as you can get; but to me, I remember how they used to look (and can just remove my glasses). They're rich in beauty. TL;DR: If you lived without it, you'd be amazed how much you'll appreciate it.
- egypturnash 12y ago
  I recently shifted to contact lenses. The one thing I really miss is going out to a park, taking off my glasses, and seeing what my brain finds in the images my very nearsighted eyes give me when I watch the trees sway in the wind.
- dreamweapon 12y ago
  I was informed that my opinion was incorrect and confusingly out of touch with reality. Little did they know that what really turns some of those young women on are not so much guys with muscles and tans, as... guys who are into planetariums, the Hubble sequence, tinkering with Maxwell's equations and such; and able to explain it all, while camping in the desert on a moonless night.
ericcumbee 12y ago
I grew up in a rural area, and still live in what most would consider a rural area. So I grew up with being able to look up at the stars at night. I don't look at the stars often. But I can not imagine living somewhere that I can't because of the light pollution. But I very much prefer the sound of crickets, and owls at night to the dull roar of cars, sirens, horns, etc.
colefichter 12y ago
So astronomy isn't your thing, that's cool. Perhaps you'd be more moved by considering just how much energy and money are wasted to create that light pollution? That's another important part of the issue.
RogerL 12y ago
I grew up in the White Mountains mentioned in the post you are responding to. I am still bowled over by the stars, by the moon, any nature, really. I suggest the difference is merely that we are different people, not that where we were born formed our appreciation.

sveme 12y ago

Experienced something similarly mind-blowing. Coming from foggy Northern Germany, I travelled to the east coast of Australia and went up the coast on a sailing boat. The night sky was so immense that I never really slept inside, instead always tried to find a place outside to spent the night watching the milky way in all its glory. Breathtaking. Every couple of minutes a falling star shot by, sometimes exploding, sometimes fizzling out. It's been more than fifteen years now and I can still clearly remember this experience and the emotions it created. Now that this comes back, I need to go back up a mountain, leave civilization, as soon as possible.

crikli 12y ago

Absolutely agree. I backcountry hike several times a year and always seem to forget how easy the galaxy is to see once you "get away from it all." When you're in town, you can't see it. When you're in the backcountry, you can't NOT see it.

mrfusion 12y ago
That sounds fun. How does one get started with backcountry hiking?
- reportingsjr 12y ago
  Start doing research about gear you will need for backpacking and where to go near you. State parks are great places to backpack. It took my SO and I about 3 months from initial research to take our first trip. I absolutely love it and also go several times a year now. Just remember to take it slow! Always better to be over prepared than underprepared. Mother nature is not forgiving.
  - wmeredith 12y ago
    This is good advice. Start slow (short trips, close to civilization) and build up over time. Your experience will tell you what gear you need much better than any review site. One of the best places to actually START is just Google up a local park, grab a water bottle and do an out-and-back (e.g walk 15 minutes along the trail and then turn around and retrace your footsteps back to the trailhead.) You can do this over lunch.
    - robertfw 12y ago
      Great advice, especially with starting with super short trips. One of the most important things is clothing and these short trips will let you figure out a good set of shoes, how to layer clothes etc, without putting you at risk of being shivering cold with blistered feet in the middle of no where.
- bdamm 12y ago

sp8 12y ago

I had the same experience while on a trip out near Uluru some years ago. Camping out in the middle of nowhere, looked up and.... wow. Never seen anything like it, and at this point in my life I conceivably won't again.

louthy 12y ago

The view from Mt. Everest base-camp (17,000ft) is outrageous! I have never seen anything like it and would recommend it to anyone (although I'd recommend going to Nepal and Tibet for lots of other reasons too).

waterlesscloud 12y ago

My brother lives about 10 miles outside Flagstaff Arizona. Flagstaff has anti-light pollution laws due to the observatory there, so all the lighting in town is shielded and directed all downward. Ten miles away on the other side of mountain it's very dark indeed. Add in the elevation at 7000 feet, and the often exceptionally clear skies and there's an overwhelming amount of stars to see. The Milky Way is so bright it always takes me time to realize that's what it actually is. And even though I'm familiar enough with constellations to use them as a sort of clock at home, I struggle to find the stars I know when I'm visiting him. There's just so many more!

Nicholas_C 12y ago

I had a similar experience. I grew up in the country and always took the clear sky sans light pollution for granted. I lived in the city for a few years for college and then work and then came back to the country to visit old friends. I was driving back to my parents old place one night and stopped and got out of my car in the middle of nowhere. I looked up and was blown away.