"Quality of Darkness"

[1dash1]

A friend remarked today about how he envied the quality of darkness in my hometown of Hilo. Funny, I thought we were behind the times by not having streetlights on every corner!

So, how's the quality of darkness in your area ...

Are you deprived by light pollution (urban location)?

Or are you lucky to turn night-into-day with the latest addition to your torch collection (rural location)?

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Here in New Orleans a starry sky is just a memory. I can see the bright stars but that's about it. It's nothing like what the sky looked like in rural Minnesota...or at sea. At sea is the best. I miss the clear, black, starry sky.

EDIT I should add that even during city wide power outages (like post Katrina) the weather is often so hazy that the faint stars are obscured. It's probably always been that way. It's a little surprising. /EDIT

 

[jzmtl]

Street lights everywhere, there's enough light at midnight to change your tires on the street.

 

[paulr]

It is very hard to find quality darkness in inhabited areas. That is a terrible loss, no longer being able to look at the stars at night without artificial light getting in your eyes. The term is "light pollution". There is an organization devoted to trying to ease this: http://www.darksky.org .

 

[McGizmo]

The quality of darkness for me ranges from pretty great to not so hot when the Kona's blow and we get your dang volcano air over here! :nana:

 

[BB]

It is pretty sad--I remember the days in my home town before we had street lights--my Dad had a home made telescope that we would spend hours looking through. Now, it it not even worth trying in our area...

And people have forgotten what the night sky even looks like: (Published: Saturday, September 22, 2007)

On October 12, 1983, an explosion at a power station plunged two square miles of Los Angeles into total darkness.

The Griffith Observatory on Mount Hollywood was inundated with calls asking what was wrong with the sky: It had a bright band of light streaked across it.

What people were seeing for the first time was the Milky Way, billions of stars that appear clustered together in a great hazy band of white.

In Vancouver, a similar thing happened during the last week of August. The R.H. MacMillan Space Centre (Vancouver Planetarium) was flooded with calls from people asking what the great orange ball was in the eastern sky. Was it a giant weather balloon? A UFO?

"They were seeing the moon, a big beautiful full moon," says Wanda La Claire, astrophysicist and show producer at the Planetarium. "Can you imagine people asking such a thing? But many people are not used to seeing the night sky and the moon in all its phases."

Light pollution is one of the main causes. The brightness and glare from millions of street lights as well as light from homes...

-Bill

 

[FrogmanM]

SoCal= no stars...
Kauai= real use for my torches

(I do miss home)

Mayo

 

[1dash1]

The quality of darkness for me ranges from pretty great to not so hot when the Kona's blow and we get your dang volcano air over here! :nana:

McGizmo:

The Kona Winds are blowing now, so your air must be pretty bad.

Just be thankful you don't live in Kona.:devil:

- Robert

 

[BlueBeam22]

I live in a rural area and across the street from my house is a dark country road with a mile long dark field next to it.

I have such a great time walking back there with my Thor 15mcp and lighting up the whole field, and the Thor easily throws all the way to the treeline a half mile away and illuminates it very nicely.

The other nice thing about the dark road is that when I shine the 15mcp Thor in the sky I can see the beam reflecting off of the clouds, I can't see that in places with light pollution.

 

[glockboy]

I miss Hawaii.:sigh:

 

[DoubleDutch]

I live at the very brink of my town. But even if I walk or bike one or more miles into the country, the yellow/orange haze from the street lights will still ruin any real night vision, or star observation. Only very clear, dry skies with no moon will allow this to an extent.

Only in some areas like national parks, or on the islands, there will be some quality darkness. Well, that's the price you pay for living in a rich and densely populated country.

The last time I can remember really being amazed at the Milky Way, was some years ago when I was camping in the field near Land's End, GB.

Kees

 

[LED-holic]

The quality of darkness for me ranges from pretty great to not so hot when the Kona's blow and we get your dang volcano air over here! :nana:

Sorry for going OT, but how does one end living on a paradise like Maui?

Is it really hard to live on Maui, in terms of cost of living? How do you survive?

I'm sure the benefits outweigh the costs.

 

[McGizmo]

Sorry for going OT, but how does one end living on a paradise like Maui?

Is it really hard to live on Maui, in terms of cost of living? How do you survive?

I'm sure the benefits outweigh the costs.

Even a very shallow and superficial response would take this thread too far off topic. Sorry.

We have had vog now for most of the week and it really impacts the night time sky both directly and more significantly, indirectly by diffusing the the artificial light we do have. We are approaching a full moon and yet with the vog, you can look at it without having to squint. In clear sky, the moon is too bright to comfortably look at without your eyes adapting to it.

 

[Aluminous]

There must be a lot of 'light pollution' and/or haze in my area (midsize city)... even in the parts of town with burnt-out streetlights, I never see a lot of stars.

 

[Norm]

I remember sleeping outside at Monument Valley, the sky was amazing and the amount of air traffic you guys have in America.
I live in a rural area so it's easy for me to drive a little bit out of town and have complete darkness when there is a new moon.
Norm

 

[Black Rose]

Around where I live, there is way too much light polution. You can see the major stars and constellations, but that's about it.

We go over towards the airport to starwatch, but even that is not as good as it used to be since they opened up the new terminal and added a fully lit parking area for commercial jets.

Have to go out to the rural areas now to star gaze, and listen to the coyotes and other critters.

 

[LukeA]

I live a quarter of a mile from a large mall and several car dealerships. The first time I really saw the sky was at my uncle's house in (very) rural Kentucky. There was a meteor shower and it was fantastic. Made me want to live where I could really see the night sky.

 

[KC2IXE]

I live in NYC - Nough said

This summer, I'm going back to Star Hill Inn (an astronomy resort) - unfortunately, they are shutting their doors for good 7/1 - sigh

 

[geepondy]

Well since moving to Massachusetts from Vermont, I can only shut my closet door and pretend.

 

[Walt175]

I live in NYC - Nough said

And I live 10 miles west of NYC, same problem!

I still remeber the first time I got to see the Milky Way. I had spent the weekend at my brother-in-law's vacation house in rural PA. What a beautiful night sky!