Dark Skies

[BillP]

Been a long time since I have been at a truly dark site.  Last week was in central Nevada at a Bortle 2 site.  Attached are my impressions.

The Dark Sky Experience v3.pdf

[cuivenion]

Great Read!

 

[FenlandPaul]

Terrific read, Bill.  I think most people will be drooling at how those skies sound.  Using the Milky Way as a navigation tool is a really interesting thought; it's a sad fact that most of us aren't able to access that level of darkness very frequently (if at all) and I suspect most of us would be lost!  

Paul

[faulksy]

what a brilliant read bill. thank you for sharing. wish i was there

 

[BillP]

On 8/8/2016 at 16:36, FenlandPaul said:

Using the Milky Way as a navigation tool is a really interesting thought...

 

It was just so impressive.  I have been thinking about it all week.  Looking up at the sky there was looking up at the galaxy!  You knew you were in a galaxy and that just overwhelmed everything.  I don;t get that connection at all from my suburban skies where there is no Milky Way to see, it is like I am just looking up at random lights.  But there, you knew you were part of something huge and glorious!

[Stu]

A fabulous read Bill, and a really refreshing new way of looking at things.

I know what you mean about aperture not being as important as dark skies. Best I have been under was on safari in Tanzania. My little William Optic 66mm was amazing there!

Thanks for posting your article.

[The Head Gardener]

Great read Bill, thank you.  You did make me laugh on page 2:  "too many stars . . ."   Clearly a wonderful trip that will stay with you for a very long time.

Jayne

 

[Roy Challen]

Good read, Bill, it almost exactly matches my experience in a remote village on the borders of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan earlier this year. I used only binoculars and MK1 eyeballs. I don't know exactly what kind of NELM I had but guesstimating from comparable reports, I would say the skies Mag 7 +/- 0.2. 

Too many stars is right, and I also found Ursa Major a good reference constellation as was Leo (probably because Jupiter was there), I would honestly trade one week per year, observing there under those skies, for the other 51 weeks under my home town skies. The other night I couldn't even find M81/82 with 10x50s, whereas in KZ I was looking at the dust main dust lane in M82, direct vision.

I've had many wow moments over the years, one or two OMGs, but this left me speechless and with shivers running up and down my spine.

[Paul73]

Great writup Bill. It sounds like you found some properly dark sky! 

I spent a week in dark central France recently (lit up like a Christmas tree compared to your site). But, is is amazing to see the Milky Way stretching to the horizon with the dark lanes and knotty clusters standing out as clear as day. I too didn't bother much with the scope as it seemed to diminish the scale of the view. I had a ball with just the bins and the Mk1's. 

But, I will be taking a big dob on my next visit!

Paul

[BillP]

4 hours ago, Roy Challen said:

...it almost exactly matches my experience in a remote village on the borders of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan earlier this year.

 

Cool.  What village in Kyrgyzstan ?  My wife is from there.  If she ever drags me there for a visit would be nice to know a good dark spot.

[Roy Challen]

26 minutes ago, BillP said:

Cool.  What village in Kyrgyzstan ?  My wife is from there.  If she ever drags me there for a visit would be nice to know a good dark spot.

The village is called Saty, it's in Kazakhstan. My wife happens to be Kazakh, been loads of times but most recently we also went to Kyrgyzstan - Bishkek. You don't need a visa (for either country), and once out of the cities, it's pretty dark right off. But get out into the remote countryside or the mountains, and the night sky views become astonishing...

[alan potts]

As with all your writing Bill, superb and always a joy to read. The distance you travelled is something like me going to Spain from here but your Country is rather large, flew across it once NY to LA

Alan

[BillP]

2 hours ago, alan potts said:

As with all your writing Bill, superb and always a joy to read. The distance you travelled is something like me going to Spain from here but your Country is rather large, flew across it once NY to LA

 

Yes, it is rather large.  Typically 6-7 hr flight to go across.  I flew from DC to San Francisco, met a friend there, then drove the 7 hours from there to the middle of Nevada.  Some parts of Nevada are beyond belief too.  I mean this is the 21st century right?  Yet so many of the main roads in the interior of the state are simply pressed gravel!  Once at the site we took a day trip to find some fossil beds and drove across the valley between two mountain ranges...drove out about 30 miles...nothing but gravel roads the entire way.  And then once in a while you's see a trailer home in the distance off the gravel road and a pickup truck.  So someone living in the middle of no place with no services and an hour drive or more to any store or other human being!  I have no idea how they eat as mostly just snakes and desert rats inhabit the sparse and dry landscape there.  I was dumbfounded.

Also out in that deserted area were regularly spaced radar or communications dishes locked behind chain link fences.  These dotted the landscape in one area in regular patterns.  Did some research on these when I got home and turns out over this area of Nevada is where the U.S. Navy conducts its Top Gun school for pilots.  So lots of simulated combat conducted over the Nevada skies too.

[alan potts]

Makes me feel better as the roads here are nothing to shout about but I guess in a place so large the line has to drawn somewhere. I imagine top the range sports cars are not the vehicle of choice.

Alan.

[Special K]

That's an excellent article and I really enjoyed the story element!  Confirms a small scope has some big advantages out there in a dark locale. Bortle 2 is incredible. As an adult I don't think I've had better than a 3.