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I didn't realise how bad LP was


JamesF

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I went into a local town about ten miles away on Saturday evening to pick my son up from a birthday party. I had to wait a few minutes for him, and as both Jupiter and Venus were fairly high, the moon was a thin crescent and the earthshine on the moon was clearly visible I stood outside for a few minutes just to enjoy the view.

I have to admit that I was really shocked by how much the LP affected what I could see. I guess when I lived in towns I never really thought about it. Orion was visible though Saiph was only just there, the plough was visible, but Cassiopeia was a struggle to make out. No sign of Ursa Minor, not even Polaris.

We arrived home and my son got out of the car, looked up and just said "Wow!". It was such a beautifully clear night that the Milky Way was clear across the sky, there were stars beyond counting, and having described and pointed out Leo to him we added Mars to the list of planets he's seen.

I was genuinely surprised (and a little saddened) by the enormous difference between the middle of the town and home. I spent a fair chunk of my youth living outside a small village between Gilwern and Crickhowell in south Wales, surrounded by farmland. I'm sure that part of my interest in the planets and stars stems from being able to look up at the sky and having exactly the same reaction as my son did last night. I can't help wondering how many children now never develop any interest in the stars because when they look up at the night sky they see no more than a handful.

James

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Yes it is very sad and very true.

It is not only about how much they miss out on by not being able to see them. I can't help but think being able to see a sky full of stars is as important to a human as being outside on a sunny day and getting out into the countryside. Hence why I would say that light pollution is just another form of brain washing (of a sort if that makes sense).

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There are many things in modern life which have big negatives, but we don't always realize it.

Street lighting is great for personal safety perhaps, but also a sad reminder of our bad and corrupt world.

TBH, I guess the best time for stargazing would have been about 2000 years ago or before, less humans means less pollution lol.

I have always lived in a village bar for about 3 years, so I sort of agree that if the skies are in your conscience, you may feel more a'tuned to astronomy?

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I'm pretty lucky when it comes to 'back garden' viewing but once I visit the caravan in Anglesey and can see some of the messier objects with the naked eye it all becomes apparent how light pollution ruins a good nights viewing, even in a low light pollution garden. I'm all for turning them off on b roads and estates. We don't need them after 12 and before 4.

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On the other hand if your lucky enough to live in non light polluted areas you miss out on the wow factor when you make your way to dark sky sites from an orange glow area and can see the Milky Way for the first time for example. (no its not working - just jealosy kicking in I'm afraid)

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Not to be able to make out Cassi or Polaris - that's bad! I wonder if you gave yourself enough time to dark-adapt: but if you'd just finished a 10-mile drive through countryside (assuming you weren't facing the glare of oncoming headlights all the way), you would have been reasonably dark-adapted already. That makes it even more bad!

From your locality and the distance you mentioned, I guess that the town you refer to must be Taunton or perhaps Bridgwater. Assuming Taunton: now (after a bit of googling) I find that it's about twice the size of my home town (Burgess Hill) so presumably suffers twice as much LP. But what I would say is: try looking around a bit. From my back garden in BH, which is about a mile from the town centre, I have had some good moments. There are definitely mag. 4.5 stars to pick out if I stay out of the streetlight glare. The summer MW is often visible at the zenith. And on one splendid night I was able to pick out M33 through binoculars. That last is a rarity though.

On the other hand, if I venture out onto the other side of my house, in the street, I am stuck with the Moon, brighter planets and first-mag. stars. That's the lot.

So I put it, that there may be dark 'pockets' even within the built-up area of a large town like Taunton, where all is not lost. Next time you're there on a clear night, perhaps you could explore around a bit. And then pass on the message.

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On the other hand if your lucky enough to live in non light polluted areas you miss out on the wow factor when you make your way to dark sky sites from an orange glow area and can see the Milky Way for the first time for example. (no its not working - just jealosy kicking in I'm afraid)

For me, at least, it's not true either :p I still get that feeling when I go outside on a really good night and the sky just looks so completely jaw-dropping, though I'll admit that it's likely to be not because it's so different, but more that I know what it is that I'm seeing.

James

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Not to be able to make out Cassi or Polaris - that's bad! I wonder if you gave yourself enough time to dark-adapt: but if you'd just finished a 10-mile drive through countryside (assuming you weren't facing the glare of oncoming headlights all the way), you would have been reasonably dark-adapted already. That makes it even more bad!

I drove there on quiet backroads, so I'd have been moderately well dark-adapted, but perhaps I could have seen more given a bit more time.

From your locality and the distance you mentioned, I guess that the town you refer to must be Taunton or perhaps Bridgwater.

Wellington, actually. A lot smaller and probably nowhere near as bad as Taunton, but as you say, there'll be places where it's particularly bad and others where it's a good deal better. I was fairly close to the centre of the town, so probably in one of the worse areas.

James

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Oh, you don't have to go back that far. 150 years will do.

Cop a look at this drawing from 1869 of the night sky and Milky Way with London in the background.

I'm always impressed by this passage in War and Peace, set in Moscow in 1812:
It was clear and frosty. Above the dirty, ill-lit streets, above the black roofs, stretched the dark starry sky. Only looking up at the sky did Pierre cease to feel how sordid and humiliating were all mundane things compared with the heights to which his soul had just been raised. At the entrance to the Arbat Square an immense expanse of dark starry sky presented itself to his eyes. Almost in the center of it, above the Prechistenka Boulevard, surrounded and sprinkled on all sides by stars but distinguished from them all by its nearness to the earth, its white light, and its long uplifted tail, shone the enormous and brilliant comet of 1812- the comet which was said to portend all kinds of woes and the end of the world. In Pierre, however, that comet with its long luminous tail aroused no feeling of fear. On the contrary he gazed joyfully, his eyes moist with tears, at this bright comet which, having traveled in its orbit with inconceivable velocity through immeasurable space, seemed suddenly- like an arrow piercing the earth- to remain fixed in a chosen spot, vigorously holding its tail erect, shining and displaying its white light amid countless other scintillating stars. It seemed to Pierre that this comet fully responded to what was passing in his own softened and uplifted soul, now blossoming into a new life.

Although the Great Comet referred to, is believed to have reached magnitude zero, I doubt very much, were it to appear over Moscow today, that it would blaze forth "like an arrow piercing the earth". More likely, most Muscovites would not even be aware of its presence.

Such is progress (*sigh*) :p

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