141–150 of 200 posts
Still dreaming that someday we regard light pollution as the pollutant that it really is, though tbh I have little hope. 99% of the people I talk to about this basically wish we could replicate daytime levels of light all around the clock. They want even brighter streetlights, even more lights around the outside of their homes, etc.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope, if you look at a population density map it has the same line. I'm not at all sure why that's true, geographically.
I think that's roughly the beginning of the Great Plains. I would guess the population density drops significantly because of farmland and ranching.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Check out this spot in northern Siberia: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=5.58&lat=67.9757&lo...
I was drawn to that same spot because it was big but there's no city there on the map. I opened google map to see what was there and found this: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Vankor+manufacturing+site/... Seems to be an oil field: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vankor_Field Also didn't google it as much, but it looks like oil fields in Texas give off plenty of light as well: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoo…
People have uploaded some great pictures from there[0]!
[0] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Vankor+manufacturing+site/...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow amazing! I've been itching to show my kids the Milky Way. I myself have only seen it once in New Zealand decades ago. What is the minimum dark sky rating to be able to see it with the naked eye? I live in the Bay Area and I know there is Pigeon Point Lighthouse which is a dark sky spot but I think it's often cloudy. If anyone has better suggestions would be grateful to hear those.
I'd suggest taking a road trip and go out to Panamint Springs outside of Death Valley. I forget if it was Zabriskie Point or Father Crowley Vista Point when I was there... but I felt that I could see all the stars that night. There was a distant glow to the east that was Vegas and another glow to the south west that was LA. This also has an advantage that it's dry and so you don't get clouds as much. Though, specific…
For those persons concerned solely about light polution, this is definitely useful. But another thing I think would be interesting is this map, corrected for population density. Mentioned down thread is that different localities have different rules affecting lighting, and that this can be seen in the map. Correcting this map for population density would probably show that even more.
I really like that site. Have used it multiple times to find dark spots for photographing the milky way. However, I don't understand why the default overlay is from 2015, when there is newer data available. First thing I usually do is switching to the most recent overlay.
There are VIIRS maps and World Atlas 2015 map. They show fundamentally different things. VIIRS shows you sources of light pollution while World Atlas shows you how these sources of light impact the sky above you.
What is this random spot with seemingly nothing around it in Russia? https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=5.85&lat=68.2729&lo...
https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=6.17&lat=67.1945&lo...
Resources like this (and as others have mentioned, Dark Site Finder) are very useful for astrophotography, especially for a hobbyist like myself. Many don't realize how relatively close they live to areas with great nighttime viewing conditions. For example, upstate New York has some great viewing locations, so even if you live in NYC it's an easy weekend trip. Here's a shot I took of the Milky Way taken from such a…
Wow amazing! I've been itching to show my kids the Milky Way. I myself have only seen it once in New Zealand decades ago. What is the minimum dark sky rating to be able to see it with the naked eye? I live in the Bay Area and I know there is Pigeon Point Lighthouse which is a dark sky spot but I think it's often cloudy. If anyone has better suggestions would be grateful to hear those.
I've also seen the milky way in West Virginia.
What's the deal with Belgium? It's lit up like a stadium.