Light Pollution (camping, live in, versus)

[missRoxyhart]

I was looking at some pics of light pollution and they really interested me.

Like this one, I realized I've never seen the sky look like it does in the top half of this picture in person in my life, ever. The bottom half is more what I'm used to, with less stars even.


And this one. The left half is a normal sky and the right one is from Provo, Utah. The right half is way less impressive than the left but it's still much more than I'd be used to over here.


I don't have any problem with light pollution though, I like my empty skies fine because that's what I'm used to and it can be pretty too. There isn't any snow in this picture but one of my favorite things about when it snows is that at night there's so much light reflecting off of it, it turns the sky bright red. It can be like this but redder or darker, lots of variety. You could walk around all night and see everything very clearly.


But the point is, I was wondering what light pollution is like in some other areas of the country after I saw that pic of Utah. And, what do people think about it, do you like it, hate it, don't care.

And check out this link. What do people think about the US being this bright by 2025? The East Coast looks crazy. (It's also cool to see CA and the South growing from the 50's on)
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wi...lution-nih.jpg

And another link showing Europe just because I thought it was interesting.
http://www.lightpollution.org.uk/ima...ropeGrowth.jpg

I'll check back here later if anyone was interested.

[The Analog Man]

At this rate, Our currently degrading infastructure won't be able to handle that amount of lighting by 2025.

[The Analog Man]

But the point is, I was wondering what light pollution is like in some other areas of the country after I saw that pic of Utah. And, what do people think about it, do you like it, hate it, don't care.

I hate light pollution. There is quite a bit of air pollution where I live on the Gulf coast, but you can still see a few stars like in the second picture from the top.

[Thomas R.]

I've been in a rural mountainous part of Northwest Arkansas and I'm not sure the sky was ever quite that impressive. Although they seem to list NW Arkansas as a bit brighter than I thought. Still I think I've been in the average brightness areas and rarely or never seen it that impressive.

One thing is even in many areas with low light pollution there's often cloud-cover. Still I do like being where you can see the stars fairly well and I missed that if I went urban. Although there is something pretty about looking at the bright city too.

[skippercollector]

Let's put it this way: I live in Cincinnati and the picture on the right is what I see on clear nights.
I've seen the Milky Way only ONCE in my life--30 years ago, on a camping trip in southern Kentucky. It has to be really, really dark to see the Milky Way.

[PGKangrui]

The Provo picture is accurate; that is what I see on a nightly basis. The picture to the left looks like what I could see on a camping trip to the mountains. There, I saw the Milky Way for the first time.

[Bydand]

Wow, I can't imagine looking up at the night sky and just seeing the images on the right/bottom side. Ours is much more like the left/top side photos.

[missRoxyhart]

Originally Posted by Kangrui

The Provo picture is accurate; that is what I see on a nightly basis. The picture to the left looks like what I could see on a camping trip to the mountains. There, I saw the Milky Way for the first time.

That's awesome, I'd have to get pretty far from where I am just to see what you see normally.

Originally Posted by The Analog Man

I hate light pollution. There is quite a bit of air pollution where I live on the Gulf coast, but you can still see a few stars like in the second picture from the top.

Originally Posted by Thomas R.

I've been in a rural mountainous part of Northwest Arkansas and I'm not sure the sky was ever quite that impressive. Although they seem to list NW Arkansas as a bit brighter than I thought. Still I think I've been in the average brightness areas and rarely or never seen it that impressive.

One thing is even in many areas with low light pollution there's often cloud-cover. Still I do like being where you can see the stars fairly well and I missed that if I went urban. Although there is something pretty about looking at the bright city too.

Originally Posted by skippercollector

Let's put it this way: I live in Cincinnati and the picture on the right is what I see on clear nights.
I've seen the Milky Way only ONCE in my life--30 years ago, on a camping trip in southern Kentucky. It has to be really, really dark to see the Milky Way.

I didn't expect much of the East to really be that different from here, but maybe a few more stars in the sky outside the East Coast I thought. I expected the most difference from the West outside of CA like Kangrui said it's like in Utah. I bet Alaska and Hawaii should have very clear nights outside of Anchorage and Honolulu too.

[missRoxyhart]

Originally Posted by Bydand

Wow, I can't imagine looking up at the night sky and just seeing the images on the right/bottom side. Ours is much more like the left/top side photos.

Yeah, I don't think there's too many places in this country with a sky that clear, and based on the projection map we'll have a lot less soon. If I didn't see pics of it I wouldn't even believe it was possible to get a view like that from Earth. I mean that, when I was younger I never could've imagined a sky so full of stars, I didn't think you could see that naturally from the ground.

[ckhthankgod]

In parts of my area, you can get some great views of the sky at night. This is the case especially south and west of the urban area.