Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums
Privacy Policy |
Please read our Terms
of Service | Signup and
Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User
Carpathia
member
Reged: 02/22/08
Posts: 24
|
|
Most of you have nothing to complain about...
I live on Long Island, New York. Out of respect for the ToS (I think), you can see the rough area where I observe here. Yes, I'm stuck squat in the middle of that giant amorphous white blob. The nearest dark skies are out at sea. If I look to the East, I see up until around 50* a dull grey that resembles a dark overcast day. Every street light in my town is unshielded. At the end of my block is a traffic circle with candle-style bright white lights. All my neighbors have the same effect. Usually (and I spent a month getting premission from my township, which didn't seem to understand that I'd want to use public land at night to see stars) I get to relocate to a large field, which is far enough away from the street lights spaced 15' from each other to avoid most direct glare.
When my stargazing permit kicks in sometime in April, I can go to the nearest dark sky area (a red/orange) at Robert Moses Beach State Park.
In no small part from living where I do, I'm 21 and I've yet to actually see the milky way, much less any faint objects. I can't even see most of the Orion constellation!
|
csa/montana
Den Mother
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 30234
Loc: montana
|
|
Carpathia, Welcome to Cloudy Nights! Glad to have you aboard.
Would light-block screens help your situation at all, for the LP close by? We certainly admire your commitment to Astronomy, under these conditions!
Carol
--------------------
Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
AstroTech 66ED / Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Tak LE 5mm B/TMB 3.2
7mm Pentax XL, 10mm Pentax XW
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
22mm Pan, 35mm Pan
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
|
wrather1
AstroBear
Reged: 10/25/05
Posts: 3041
Loc: Dallas, Texas
|
|
"Giant, amorphous white blob"
That describes the Dallas metroplex to a tee.
The sky in any direction never darkens to more than a light gray or beige color. You have to drive at least 2 hours to get away from the immense light dome. 
--------------------
"Don't worry about what telescope you own, or its quality. Just get out under the night sky, and enjoy God's wondrous universe." - T. M. Back
Meade RCX400-12 on JMI trolley "Ursa Major"
TMB 130SS on EQ6 PRO "Ursus Polaris"
Orion ED80 "Ursa Minor", WO ZS66ED "grab-'n'-go"
Canon EOS 30D (Hutech), Meade DSI, Philips ToUcam Pro
North Texas Clear Sky Chart
|
weatherandsky
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/27/06
Posts: 1603
Loc: Ontario, Canada
|
|
Hi everyone,
I took these three stitched shots from our balcony last night. Believe it or not despite all the lights that you see, I am in the orange zone with mag 5.5 skies (at zenith) on a nice clear,snow free night. We're about ~300 ft above the town lights below. The far distant band of lights across the lake is the TOronto Skyline. Facing the other direction it is much darker because it is rural residential.
Larger version: http://www.weatherandsky.com/LakeViews/LP_panorama_web.jpg
--------------------
Kerry
* Weather and Sky Photography *
QHY-8, Canon 40D unmodded, Meade DSI-C
Meade 12" LightBridge
Celestron C6-SCT
Sky-Watcher Equinox 80mm APO
Omcon 4.5" Newt
Celestron Skymaster 15x70
Canon 50 f1.8, 100 f2.8Macro, 100-400 f4.5-5.6L, Sigma 17-70, 18-50, 28-300
CGE, CG-5 GT
|
AstroBobo
sage
Reged: 07/04/07
Posts: 397
Loc: Zagreb, Croatia
|
|
Hello all,
I've just now "discovered" this thread. I hoped to see more photos from your observing locations. I think it would be a great resource for anyone trying to find examples of light polluted and non polluted places.
Here's my contribution - the view from Zagreb's observatory:
If we get mag. 4.5 it's a great night! Mind you, the view to the other side (north) is not so bad, because the observatory is on the northern part of the city..
BTW if you look carefully, you can see Orion rising...
Here's the view from my friend's window:
..and another photo which can be useful if anyone plans to make a presentation of shielded vs. unshielded lamps:
--------------------
Boris Stromar : AD Infinitum member : Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
P75SDHF : P105SDP : MN71 : CGE : STL-11000
http://www.astrobobo.net
|
bsim
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 688
Loc: New York City
|
|
Quote:
Most of you have nothing to complain about...
I live on Long Island, New York.
I would say the same thing to you 
I live in New York City. I observe from my roof top and it's challenging to put it mildly. But you can still see a lot if you do simple things like an eye patch, a dark cloth, flocking, and binos. I tell people I have mag 6 skies as long as I use my 10x50 bino  .
On the other hand, I know what really dark skies are like. One of my more memorable experiences was in Australia on a remote island on the Great Barrier Reef called Lizard Island. The milky way was so bright it was blinding. You didn't need a finder scope since you could see everything with the naked eye.
Is NYC a let down? Well, I figure any observing is better than no observing. I have a stargazer permit for Robert Moses State Park as well. I'll be going there when it gets warmer.
--------------------
Teeter's 10" F/6 Truss Dob / Sky Commander DSC / Round Table Platform
Celestron C80ED / MoonLite CF Tri-Knob
William Optics ZS66, Orion XT8i, Orion XT4.5
Canon 10x30 IS, Constellation View 2.3x40 Bino
Astro-Tech Voyager, Bogen 3011 & 3036, UA MicroStar Deluxe
Howie Glatter Laser & tuBlug
13 & 8 Ethos, 35 & 24 Panoptic, Nagler 3-6 Zoom, TV 8-24 Zoom
|
SleepIsWrong
sage
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 374
Loc: Baltimore, MD
|
|
I'm less than four miles north of downtown Baltimore. Pretty blight skys here - which ain't pretty! The skies are always orange. Thankfully, north and east is a bit better; north because it's away from downtown and east is towards the Chesapeake Bay, though there's still lots of city between me and the bay. Also just a mile or so from Morgan State University where they have a nice track around their football field which stays brilliantly illuminated until around 10:00pm on most nights. Still, my observatory is right outside my back door - I use it MUCH more than I did when it was 50 miles away in fairly dark skies.
Mike
Now imaging: 1RXS J074727.6 +065050 (CMi)
--------------------
14" Celestron CGE (two of 'em)
Soupy, orange, mag 4. skies (woof!)
Meade ETX125 (guidescope)
ST9-XE, ST8-XME
ssp-3 photometer
Mira Pro & ProScript, IDL v7.0, AIP4Win, MaxIm DL, TheSky6 Pro
Way too many white squares in the graphic, below
|
hm insulators
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/22/07
Posts: 588
|
|
Quote:
"Giant, amorphous white blob"
That describes the Dallas metroplex to a tee.
The sky in any direction never darkens to more than a light gray or beige color. You have to drive at least 2 hours to get away from the immense light dome.
Los Angeles, where I used to live, too. Phoenix is bad enough but from the San Fernando Valley, even Polaris was impossible to find!
|
jrw11
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/09/07
Posts: 509
Loc: U.S.A.
|
|
Those of you that live in the largest cities with over 1,000,000 people. I admire your dedication!. If it was me, I might be more incline to stick to solar observing.
--------------------
Celestron C6n -HD Reflector
dual axis drive motors added
Orion 80mm Short tube refractor
Skyscout
Early 70's Pentax 7x50
Garrett Optical 12x60
Garrett Optical 15x70
Oberwerk 20x80 Standards
Canon Rebel Ti (film)
4 Minolta Srt cameras
Mamiya RB67 Pro-s with 180 lens
127mm KL lens for RB, Bellows hood for RB67
Mamiya M645 Pro
Cambo SCII 4x5 view camera
over 50 other film cameras
several eyepieces
too much stuff
|
BianchiAZ
member
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 67
Loc: Tucson, Arizona
|
|
Quote:
Those of you that live in the largest cities with over 1,000,000 people. I admire your dedication!. If it was me, I might be more incline to stick to solar observing.
I live in Tucson and we just hit over a million people here last year they say. I am originally from Detroit Michigan and I can say we have a much darker sky here. I am moving to another "darker" part of Tucson now that I am getting into astronomy.
Tucson does have a Dark Sky Law that is enforced to some extent. My gripe is about the insane security lights. My new landlord at the place I am now put up these ridiculous security lights that basically light up a pool. This is right next to my little observing site. I can block out the direct beam from it but there are reflections shooting off everything in site. I did let him know that the lights were in violation of the Tucson Dark Sky Laws. You should have seen his face. He looked over at another person as to say... this guy is a loon ball 
He said he is going to shield the lights after we talked so they only shine down. Yayy!
So I have had enough of this place and found a very dark neighborhood though it is still in the city. But there are no lights at all on the street and there are no security lights shining in my face or anywhere near that I can see. It is very nice for observing. I can see more stars from there. I will be much more happy now.
Regards,
Rick
--------------------
Orion 8" SkyQuest Dobsonian W/Telrad
Celestron Nexstar 114GT Reflector
Vintage Tasco 11T Reflector D4.5 FL900mm w/EQ2 mount(project scope)
Meade 10x50 Binos, Barska 20x50 Binos
Tucson, Arizona
|
JayKSC
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 753
Loc: Florida
|
|
Light pollution really seems to be a matter of perspective for me these days.
I used to live in suburban central Florida, and bemoaned how my view of the Milky Way was so washed out. Eventually I moved to another location closer to a ball-field, and then was upset about how my entire southeast sky was awash with a bright dome of light on game nights. Now, though, I'm living in metro South Florida and have been surprised to see only the brightest stars on the darkest nights - many nights I can't see much else than Saturn or Jupiter. Those "bad" suburban skies I once had seem fantastic compared to my current views.
- Jay
In bright South Florida
--------------------
Refractor manic. 
|
Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29880
Loc: Sunny Oregon
|
|
Yep, gotta keep it all in perspective. I have bad skies to my north...having been to a large city such as Tokyo on several occasions and looking up (of course I looked up!) I could see a moon and nothing else. Made me stop and thank what I had.
--------------------
Tom 
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
|
greenglass
sage
Reged: 01/22/06
Posts: 441
Loc: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
|
|
The intersection of Brighton Ave. and Glow Ave. might be named from the light pollution here in Hamilton. 
--------------------
7x50 Tasco binoculars
4" f/9 reflector
12.75" f/5.4 reflector
Edited by greenglass (03/11/08 09:39 PM)
|
|
0 registered and 1 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator: csa/montana
Print Thread
|
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
|
Thread views: 4939
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
[Re: 
Edit
Reply
Quote
