dark sky rating

[sam mayo]

i am very lucky even at the worst of semi clear nights i can see all the milky way and tonight is the best i have ever had can see more than i knew existed and the stars in the sky seem to have doubled,trebled,

i was wondering how you can rate the dark sky's u are seeing?(sorry for poor terminology lol)

[JamesF]

One of the easy ways is to note which stars you can see in Ursa Minor:

http://darkskydiary.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/naked-eye-limiting-magnitude-redux/

The best I've seen it here is an NELM of around 5.7.

James

[sam mayo]

thanks will check it out

sam

[nmoushon]

Here is another way http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_Dark-Sky_Scale

[JamesF]

The page I linked to suggests where on the Bortle scale you'd be, but I'm really not a fan of it as the descriptions don't tie in very well with my experience. For instance, I live in a very rural location just off the edge of Exmoor and the Milky Way is clear tonight well down towards the horizon even without dark adapted vision, but I've never managed to see M33 with direct or averted vision. Based on the descriptions from Wikipedia we could come anywhere from Bortle 3 to Bortle 6.

James

[Qualia]

You might find this site helpful, especially with the SQM and NELM maps supplied for the UK.

On a side note I'm super chuffed tonight. I've found a dark site on the edge of the desert - which has an all night bus running in and out from it - where you can make out the Milky Way beautifully and if this[/url[ site is correct where star magnitude appears to be at least 5 or 6 without even getting properly night-adjusted. I'm so happy. So happy. The only shame is tomorrow I have to endure an all day-night party celebration and then it's back to a week of work, but anyway, the edge of the desert will be something to look forward to every weekend

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P.S. The links were lifted from Mike's Blog which is a source of joy in itself.

[Qualia]

Mike's Blog