Great Vacation Idea

It's estimated that about one fifth of the world's population and more than two-thirds in the U.S. cannot see the Milky Way from their homes.

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I find that statement so sad...

Every summer, I try to take time up north, and when I do, I'll go out at night and just stare up at the stars.

The first night of the huge blackout a few years back, we were camping in a Provincial Park on Lake Ontario, and that night we went down to the beach and lay on the sand, staring at the stars in the sky.

I can see it from my girlfriend's house. There is a town ordinance that makes it illegal to keep your outside lights on past a certain time.

I just visited Arizona for the first time last month, btw. That state is a beaut, I must say. I wouldn't mind living there.

It's estimated that about one fifth of the world's population and more than two-thirds in the U.S. cannot see the Milky Way from their homes.

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Yeshanu said:

I find that statement so sad...

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Ithought we WERE the Milky Way. How can we see ourselves?

It's like looking at the inside of your house while you're inside it. We can't see our own galaxy from an outsider's perspective, but because we are on the edge, we can see a lot of it from the inside. This is a good site to explain it.

There are still some "dark sky" sites left in North America, and a dark skies global awareness site.

Here's an interesting light pollution map.

There's dark sky site about an hour from me. When there is a comet or some other celestial occurence folks come from hundreds of miles away, hauling some really impressive, huge telescopes.

It's a lot of fun.

I live in the middle of the country, no street lights, no house lights, no flood lights, no traffic lights- The stars are amazing-

if I may borrow a line from The Bucket List; ..Like holes punched through the floor of heaven..

yeah, like that.

Our children may come to believe there are only a couple of stars in the sky and a few that move (airplanes).

kdnxdr, that's a great vacation idea.

Some of the stars are satellites, as my neighbor pointed out to me with his telescope. It stinks that you can't even trust the stars anymore.

I can step outside my front door every night and see the Big Dipper and any number of other constellations which I cannot name.

I live in a city that is around 200k, population. I have neighbors very close by on either side. The only places I've lived where I couldn't see the stars at night was Miami and Chicago, and honestly, I think it's because there was too much light from all the buildings more than any pollution.

Cranky said:

I can step outside my front door every night and see the Big Dipper and any number of other constellations which I cannot name.

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There's "seeing the stars at night," which I've always been able to do, even in Toronto growing up. Mind you, the city was much smaller then.

But then, there's seeing this, which can only be seen when there's little-to-no light pollution around:



Most of the stars in the sky are not very bright, and to see them, you need to be in a place where they're the only light available. It's one of the most gorgeous sights ever, and very refreshing to the spirit just to look up and stare.

I live in a city that is around 200k, population. I have neighbors very close by on either side. The only places I've lived where I couldn't see the stars at night was Miami and Chicago, and honestly, I think it's because there was too much light from all the buildings more than any pollution.

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Cranky, when we talk about "light pollution," the light from the buildings IS the pollution.

I can see the Big Dipper and Little Dipper and the other constellations in the middle of the city, and we're in a million plus metro area. We just can't see many of the smaller stars.

Yeshanu said:

But then, there's seeing this, which can only be seen when there's little-to-no light pollution around:

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I have NEVER seen a sky like that, EVER. Even when I was in Iceland and when I was out at sea in the Indian Ocean.

The sky over Loomberah looks pretty good.