/out/ - Outdoors » Thread #46109

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2MiB, 972x1296, urban_and_rural_night_sky[1].png

star gazing/light pollution

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:01:20 No.46109 View View Reply Original Report

Alright, so here's the thing. I've lived in the city for all my life, and have never been to Bumblefuck, Nowhere, so I've never seen more than half a dozen stars at night.

Sounds kinda faggy, but I want to see what it's like to look up and find myself with a sky full of stars.

Considering I live near Buenos Aires (inb4), La Plata to be more exact; just how far away do I need to get before I get that picturesque view with the MIlky Way in full? Hell, this might even come in handy for a date or some shit.

Also,
>Stargazing general...
>...I guess?

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 1328380454152.jpg, 48KiB, 497x501

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:08:27 No.46134 Report

Quoted By:

>>46109

Mountain Man !!laImFgyZGhL

Mountain Man !!laImFgyZGhL Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:13:46 No.46148 Report

Quoted By: >>46182 >>46186

>>46109

Have you thought about taking a trip to an astronomical observatory? They are always built in places ideal for stargazing since that's what they're built for.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:16:25 No.46159 Report

Quoted By: >>46170 >>46196

I live in Central PA and the best stargazing I've ever gotten was in Stowe, Vermont....that wasn't even that great.

Anybody know actual places to go to on the east?

Mountain Man !!laImFgyZGhL

Mountain Man !!laImFgyZGhL Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:19:12 No.46170 Report

Quoted By: >>46181 >>46451 >>46459

>>46159

You need altitude. Lots and lots of altitude. The biggest limiting factor, after light pollution, is the air itself.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:22:14 No.46181 Report

Quoted By:

>>46170
i would love to see the northern lights one day

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:22:34 No.46182 Report

Quoted By: >>46211

>>46148
My university HAS an observatory, the building I take my courses in is half a block down the thing. But it's well within city limits.

It was built back when widespread electric lighting would lead to be brick-shitting amazement, so there was no problem with the location at first. It's a completely different story nowadays, obviously.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:22:43 No.46184 Report

Quoted By: >>46199 >>46200

>>46109
Cityfag here
Is it even possible to see the sky like the top picture ;_;?
I've been to the countryside and obviously there were way more stars, but never something as awesome looking as that.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:23:33 No.46186 Report

Quoted By:

Two best places I've been are up in the Rockies and in the Guadalupe Mountains, both a good two or three hundred miles from the nearest major city.

I second this motion, though >>46148
since you don't really know how good it's going to be until you get there, unless you can talk to somebody who's been there or unless somebody's built an observatory there, in which case you can pretty much assume that it's going to be good.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:25:57 No.46196 Report

Quoted By: >>46201

>>46159
>vermont

I'm not surprised. Pic related.

It's damn near impossible to see anything good on the eastern half of the US according to this map.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:26:13 No.46199 Report

Quoted By:

>>46184
You've got to get REALLY far out, but yes, there are places where you can see stuff like that. Last time I was in the Guadalupe mountains I had a sky a lot like that at night. It was really amazing. I said in my first coast that the other place I've seen something like that was in the Rockies, but I think it might actually have been in Utah somewhere, I don't really remember.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:26:26 No.46200 Report

Quoted By:

>>46184
I've seen better. The sky is always beautiful at night, when the wind's blowing, and the waves are lapping at the shore, stuff that pictures can never capture.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO usa_mex[1].jpg, 46KiB, 600x413

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:26:52 No.46201 Report

Quoted By: >>46245 >>46252

>>46196
Captcha ate my fucking pic.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:28:40 No.46211 Report

Quoted By: >>46232

>>46182
Well then find a post-electrification observatory, whose location was not selected because of a university.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:34:06 No.46232 Report

Quoted By: >>46268

>>46211
I live in a shit country, the closest one's 6 hours away from what I've read, but that's a bit too much for me.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO world light pollution.gif, 148KiB, 2000x909

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:35:11 No.46236 Report

Quoted By: >>46255 >>46262 >>46488 >>46507

The ideal conditions for star-gazing are somewhere dry and cold, preferably high in altitude. If there's somewhere near you OP that has conditions like that, it would be the ideal spot. Being in Argentina though, your close to some very remote and dark spots.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:37:28 No.46245 Report

Quoted By:

>>46201
I'm trying to get out to the Sierra Nevadas or something...Maybe even go to Denali and ski. That'd make me cream

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:38:57 No.46252 Report

Quoted By:

>>46201
Man the midwest is pretty bad too. I question why Indiana is so bad, but hey, I guess that just goes to show how bad light pollution from big cities can effect countryside and farmland.

Just goes to show I need to take a trip out west.

Bathroom Humor !!gOloxwt0h/C

Bathroom Humor !!gOloxwt0h/C Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:39:29 No.46255 Report

Quoted By: >>46259

>>46236
North Korea has a lovely view of the night sky, I imagine

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:40:59 No.46259 Report

Quoted By: >>46303

>>46255
Actually, a good deal of light leaks in from South Korea and China, so it's not as great as you think.

North Korea, not even good at keeping shit dark when they've got no lighting.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:41:12 No.46262 Report

Quoted By:

>>46236
i bet the south pole is epic

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:42:31 No.46268 Report

Quoted By:

>>46232
Six hours is relatively close. It's about a twelve hour drive for me to the nearest place with a cool nigh sky. So, living in a relatively undeveloped country is an advantage.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:43:37 No.46274 Report

Quoted By:

I remember being in the desert in Afghanistan. I didn't know there were so many stars in the sky. Of course I wouldn't recommend travelling there just for that. I don't recall anything like OP's pic though.
BTW if you ever get a chance look through a NVG at the sky at night, though a muted green it's a pretty neat view.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 05:54:45 No.46303 Report

Quoted By: >>46312

>>46259
why did the north korea comment get deleted?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 06:00:52 No.46312 Report

Quoted By:

>>46303
Was it the one about north korea having a nice night sky? Because that one is still there?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 06:02:32 No.46315 Report

Quoted By: >>46346

Best sky I've ever seen was when I went on a school trip to Alice Springs in Australia. We camped in the middle of the desert one night, without a single soul for god knows how many kilometers.
That sky...it's something I'll never forget. It was so clear I was able to notice when the sky moved, because I could actually see that individual stars had moved.

Second best was up in the mountains somewhere in Austria, we were all walking back up the mountain to our hotel and saw a meteor shower. Words can't describe.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 06:05:44 No.46320 Report

Quoted By:

for anyone living close to north central PA. There's a state park called Cherry Springs state park with apparently incredible stargazing. Forbes.com named one of them 10 best places to go. Been meaning to go there with some friends for years, but we're terrible at planning trips like that.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 06:18:51 No.46346 Report

Quoted By:

>>46315
I second that one central Australia and northern Canada Frign amazing sky, Not just looking up but completely surrounded by stars. Australia seemed brighter but canada had the light show so hard choice.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 06:24:21 No.46356 Report

Quoted By: >>46367 >>46390

just FYI the top part of OP's image was probably taken with a long-exposure camera that can collect in more light than human eyes can.

I doubt you could ever see anything like that top picture with your naked eye no matter how much you got rid of light pollution.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 06:30:14 No.46367 Report

Quoted By:

>>46356
this answered my question
not op btw
but ive always wonderes

sage

sage Sun 24 Mar 2013 06:38:47 No.46371 Report

Quoted By:

obligatory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFpeM3fxJoQ

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 06:58:00 No.46390 Report

Quoted By:

>>46356
Where are you from NY??????
Go north or way south I have seen this on many occasions, Ausfag though so a fair ways south

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 07:03:19 No.46400 Report

Quoted By:

omg now I feel like I'm living in the middle of nowhere... I can see about thesame amount of stars as in OPs picture when I'm in my back yard. eurofag here.

to the OP, try and go to rural areas. or maybe the beach? make it a 2-3 day trip with some friends or something. not only for the stargazing obviously. and if you want to have a mind-blowing star gazing experience, try to get to any desert.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO jupiter1.jpg, 36KiB, 1066x732

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 07:33:58 No.46451 Report

Quoted By:

>>46170
Unstable air doesn't affect the brightness of starts, it just blurs the detail if you're observing through a telescope. If you actually just star gazing by the naked eye or through binoculars, then the air hardly matters at all, just dark skies. For planetary observing though, it's pretty much ONLY the air that matters, because planets are so bright they can be seen right through even the worst light pollution.

I've done a decent bit of astronomy, and have gotten plenty of good observing nights right in and around Phoenix at 1.5k feet altitude. I've also been up to a 32" telescope in an actual observatory at over 12k feet altitude and had terrible air. High altitude tends to have better air, but it's still down to luck and you can have good air anywhere.

This picture is a shot of Jupiter I snapped out of one of my scopes with my cell phone from my driveway in Phoenix when the air was good. I just held it up to the eyepiece and snapped, simple as can be. The two little dots pointing down towards the seven o'clock position, one just about touching Jupiter and the other towards the edge of the frame, are two of Jupiter's moons. You can see the moons around it with just binoculars. It's amazing to see for the first time.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 07:36:51 No.46458 Report

Quoted By:

>I've never seen more than half a dozen stars at night

Kinda sad dude. Just drive yourself to bumhole fuck nowhere one day

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Jupiter.jpg, 20KiB, 300x400

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 07:37:32 No.46459 Report

Quoted By: >>46465 >>46946

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 07:37:54 No.46462 Report

Quoted By:

canada, northern saskatchewan, ive seen some bitchin night skies as well as northern lights. really depends though like best times were on a really cold winter night usually

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 07:39:07 No.46465 Report

Quoted By:

>>46459
Oh, and that's the red storm you can faintly see at the center of the right side stripe's edge.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 07:49:05 No.46488 Report

Quoted By:

>>46236
That picture makes me sad living in holland without a car.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 07:56:18 No.46503 Report

Quoted By: >>46516

Ausfag here, I want to get in on this action.

Anybody know any places around Sydney with a great night sky? How far would I have to drive to escape the city light pollution?

I would prefer something secluded where I could just lay out on a rock and watch the sky, but whatever works.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 07:57:53 No.46507 Report

Quoted By: >>46523

>>46236

>my city has the largest amount of light pollution in the country

Just need an overlay of that on google maps and no-one will have to ask for a good spot again.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 08:03:01 No.46516 Report

Quoted By:

>>46503
I'm in the US, but I know that Oz is famous for its stargazing. You can just open up google maps, and look for the shortest distance to get away from the city and drive out. I did that here with a pair of binoculars and got my first view of a double open cluster, and M31, the closest spiral galaxy to ours. Astronomers love their forums and groups though, so you can just do a search for Sydney astronomy.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 08:06:54 No.46523 Report

Quoted By:

>>46507
Here:
http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/

And this site uses weather data to predict other aspects that play into observation for popular observing sites around the country:
http://cleardarksky.com/csk/

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 15:00:57 No.46946 Report

Quoted By:

>>46459
that's pretty fucking wild
nice

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 15:30:35 No.46991 Report

Quoted By:

You should go to the Islas Malvinas, i hear they get pretty good nightski....

oh wait.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 15:36:30 No.47002 Report

Quoted By:

One of my most cherished memories is from when I was very young, probably no more than eight years old. My father, mother, little brother and I were driving down south to Alabama from Pennsylvania to visit my grandmother, so where I was from light pollution was pretty intense. It was dead of night and my brother and I were in our PJs in the back of the car and our parents told us to look up at the sky.

It was the most vivid thing I had ever seen. The sky was framed by the trees along either side of the road and was lit up with more stars than I had ever seen before or after that moment. I could see into the gassy cloud like in OP's pic I couldn't even count all the stars, I could only stare slackjawed at the sky. It was the first time I felt truly connected with the universe.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2013 16:02:10 No.47049 Report

Quoted By:

Somewhat related i guess....
Anyone else notice how theres a similar effect during daytime?
General air pollution seems to make the horizon look really dark and ugly, but somehow i never realized that until i went far away from 1st world civilisation.
At home, here in germany, theres not really any noticeable air pollution to speak of, but when i went on a trip trough eastern europe, in rural ukraine the difference was amazing. The daytime sky looks much better, like you can see further and even the horizon has a nice blue touch.

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