I finally saw the night sky clearly tonight.

[Guest]

I live in the New York area, which means there's a lot of light pollution. (I'm really in the middle on Connecticut, but it's still only a couple hours away)  I've never seen it this clear.  It's a perfectly clear night, and for some strange reason, it seems that there's not as much light pollution.  I'll NEVER see the milky way here, or anything like that, but this is the first time I've seen the stars this clearly. It's kind of sad to think about sometimes.  I just thought I'd share.  I don't have any pictures because of the exposure on my camera...

Edited January 7, 2016 by Guest

[Starwhip]

Living in Miami, I completely understand your situation. On a good day you might see Venus here. And of course there's usually a nice thick overcast blanket of clouds, blocking even the Moon.

But a few times, my family and I have driven out to the Everglades, and stayed out there for a few hours just watching the sky. In the right spots, you can just barely make out the band of the galaxy, and the stars are so much brighter out there.

Someday, I want to get way out in the ocean, away from all the city lights, just to see the night sky like it was.

[Just Jim]

I live just north of Tampa, and it's not so great here either.  But I used to live on a hill in farm country in upstate NY, and let me tell you, it was stunning!  Some nights there were so many stars you couldn't make out which were the constellations, they just got lost in the billions....   I really miss that.

[lajoswinkler]

If you barely see Venus on a clear day, then I truly feel sorry for you. That's so sad.

[Redjoker]

I think that all of you might find this map interesting/useful, it's a map of light pollution worldwide. http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html

[Dafni]

I live in a rural area and this is one of the reasons. Sometimes I long for even less light pollution, like in the dessert. But I guess I can call myself lucky. The nightsky has always fascinated me, I could not imagine living in a city for more than a couple weeks.

[Mazon Del]

I remember reading an article once that was talking about Los Angeles (I think), and how one night when the power for the city had gone out, the police recorded something like 200+ calls to 911 reporting strange lights in the sky, where people were worried it was anything from Russia attacking to an alien invasion. It was the milky way. T_T

[cubinator]

Where I live you can't quite see the milky way, but you can make out several nebulae and occasionally the Andromeda galaxy and a few others too. I've been out to the South Dakota Badlands a couple of times, and there you can really see it, millions of stars in every direction.

[Scotius]

Say what? You can see Andromeda galaxy, but not the Milky Way? You are doing something wrong.

[PnDB]

10 hours ago, Redjoker said:

I think that all of you might find this map interesting/useful, it's a map of light pollution worldwide. http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html

I always liked that map.  The stark contrast between eastern China, North Korea, and South Korea was something that fascinated me.  I can make out the Milky Way at my house on a clear night (I'm listed on the map as "bright yellow").  When I was several hours northwest of Las Vegas once, the night sky was absolutely spectacular, and it put my view from home to shame.

[PnDB]

2 hours ago, Scotius said:

Say what? You can see Andromeda galaxy, but not the Milky Way? You are doing something wrong.

I can't see M31 from my house with direct vision at all, but I can occasionally make it out with averted vision.  Sometimes I can detect it without being able to make out the Milky way; however the opposite is usually true.  If Andromeda were bright enough, it would appear about six times the apparent diameter of the Moon (~3 degrees vs. ~0.5 degrees).

[swjr-swis]

Living most of my life in a big port city in one of the most densely populated countries, it's very rare for me to see much of the night sky.

The moments I got to spend with my girlfriend away from cities, like out in Dryden MI... seeing auroras, the Milky Way, and a 1000x more stars than I had ever seen other than on pictures... it's hard to find the words of that experience.

It truly is sad that so many of us cannot see the starry skies properly anymore. It also makes me wonder if there was no light polution and everyone could gaze at the vast awesomeness of the stars, whether we'd still feel so self-important and be engaged every day in petty insignificant battles.

Living in agglomerations has its advantages, but we've lost other, perhaps more important things because of it. I miss the stars, and I take every opportunity to see as much of them as I can on the precious few occasions I get.

[WestAir]

I fly a lot, and over the big open desert on the way to Las Vegas there are several spots where there are no lights in the visible horizon in any direction. When it's a moonless night and the lighting inside the plane is at a minimum, it almost has the illusion of you being in space.  I wish my cell phone could really capture the feeling - but it doesn't.