7 stars in Orion......

[JOC]

That was one of the criteria I read about on Kelling Heath's website that apparently is used to say that an area is decently dark enough for good astronomy.  I must admit I know our skies are passably decent for being dark, but I didn't think we were anywhere particularly special.  I just take seeing 7 stars in Orion (3 in the belt, 2 shoulders and 2 feet) with no assisted vision for granted and just assumed it looked like to most of those living in the UK.  Have read now that it is a sign of dark skies does that mean that some of you who you couldn't seecan't see 7 stars in Orion 😞 I wouldn't have thought that it was even slightly difficult to do so) 

 

[maw lod qan]

7 stars! Oh my.

I believe on a really good night I can see in the mid teens. Sometimes with averted vision, but I question my vision, I might get as good as 20.

When I look at the bortle map I bump between a 4 and 3.

Building is rapidly moving closer and it's not single homes, but developments with hundreds of homes.

[ShrewView]

Wow. I must try not to complain about my sky if that's the case.

If they meant 7 without the 4 corners that might be a sign of darker skies perhaps?

[Mr Spock]

It doesn't mean the main 7 stars. It means 7 stars in the area between the belt, Betelgeuse and Bellatrix!

[JOC]

7 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

It doesn't mean the main 7 stars. It means 7 stars in the area between the belt, Betelgeuse and Bellatrix!

That is highly useful @Mr Spock I couldn't see how it meant the 7 main stars of the outline, but for anyone not instantly aware that there was a group of 7 other stars elsewhere in the matrix means the statement sounded a bit weird to anyone knowing there was 7 stars in the OUTLINE!!  LOL!  It obviously means 7 stars withIN Orion!!!  I shall take a look the next time its a clear night 😄  Much happier now with the statement 🙂

[Zermelo]

Well, the Kelling Heath website is referring to its appearance on the Dark Sky Discovery website.

On there, the 'Orion Class' sites are described: "the seven main stars in the winter constellation Orion are visible to the naked eye". Kelling is saying that it meets that, and the other criterion, that the Milky Way is visible.

I recall a previous discussion in another thread that the Dark Sky Discovery site awards had quite a low bar. It actually lists the Kelling Site at SQM 21.23, which is much better than the Orion Class criterion would suggest. You would be able to see many more stars in Orion.

 

 

[JOC]

On 12/02/2022 at 09:31, Zermelo said:

are described: "the seven main stars in the winter constellation Orion are visible to the naked eye".

Which when you think about it the word 'main' by itself is entirely misleading if you don't know better.  It would be better put as something like:"the seven main stars inside the winter constellation Orion outline are visible to the naked eye".

[jjohnson3803]

My main measure is if I can see any stars of the Little Dipper aside from Polaris, Kochab, and Pherkad.  From home, I usually can't.  🙄

Darkest sky I've seen was when Cancer jumped out at me as a very obvious crab shape.

 

[Mr Spock]

I saw Orion during the ‘70s power cuts. There’s a lot more than 7 stars in there!

[GSmith]

Shameless plug for a previous topic - count the stars inside Orion and report data... starts 26 Feb.