Light pollution

[UBT - Mikee]

I remember a time when there wasn't as much light pollution as there is now. I used to quite often walk in the dark and look up to see the Milky Way. Most youngsters won't know what it looks like - the sky is so lit up at night you can only see the most brightest of stars and galaxies.

However, in other parts of the world it's not so bad - which is why most of the worlds observatories are based in remotest areas.

Here's a video from Dakotalapse. It'll remind some of what the sky used to look like and show others for the first time. Best watch at full screen.

https://vimeo.com/28040685

Mike

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi Mikee,

Nice find, though I thought that some of the photo's are "enhanced" significantly.....

Just over 10 years ago, I went by car from Aswan to Abu Simbel (in Egypt) and on the way we stopped to view the sky - it was about 3am, and there were no streetlights or towns nearby. And there was no moonlight either.

The view was breathtaking - all you could see was starlight - but there was no "colour" like on the photos from the link....that really is down to some manipulation !!

regards
Tim

[wkdwill]

There's a site that lists all the dark sky discovery sites with their darkness rating.

http://www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk/dark ... s/map.html

Will

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi Will

The one site that isn't on that list, which I've been to is the Keele (Optical) Observatory.

https://www.keele.ac.uk/observatory/

It's open to the public on Tuesday nights and Saturday afternoons and there are staff available who give tutorials. No charges, and free parking. The observatory is up on a hill and very few streetlights are nearby.

regards
Tim

[wkdwill]

Hi Tim,

Might have to check that out one night, not a million miles from me

Will