BBC - huge drop in number of stars that can be seen naked eye

[Mr Spock]

Not good tonight, could just see γTri at mag 4.0 with averted vision 

[Nigella Bryant]

I'm still fortunate enough to live in a bortle 4 area and I'm on the edge of that, probably 3.5. I have two led light's on the road but the council kindly blanked off the light towards my garden so it's pitch black and can't see where I'm walking, lol. There is outline planning for 300 house's to the east of me so not sure what that will mean for the future but I'm hoping because it's on the other side of the hill near the tesco it'll not be to bad. Tesco light's I'm not affected by and the east has a little more glow. I don't usually point my scopes that way, lol. It's not going to get any better unfortunately. 

[fozzybear]

What with the cost of electricity our local village and many others have adopted 22-30 till 7-00 street lights off. And it is certainly dark here

[bosun21]

12 hours ago, Carbon Brush said:

We are, as expected, concentrating on the (minority of odd people) astronomy viewpoint and touching on (fashionable) energy waste.

But there is so much more......

Some on SGL have asked (individually) for councils to put shields on street lights.
On the north side of Cambridge I remember seeing a whole road with shields to keep light out of bedroom windows. Incompetents specifying light fittings?

Recently while leaving work after dark, I heard unexpected birdsong from outside the farm buildings next door.
The (don't get me started) farmer has ultra bright insecurity lights easily visible from 2 miles away. What a way to advertise stuff worth nicking🙄
Nobody had told the birds in the hedges and trees it was way past their bedtime.

Going back a long time I was in one of the big squares in London. It had a lot of trees containing incandescent lights.
Yes late at night there was a lot of bird noise.
How much was 'aren't these lights lovely and warm on a cold night' and how much 'It is a long day today' I have no idea.

In my area, where LED lights have been fitted it has been new heads on existing posts, or new posts in the existing locations. No thought to actual requirements.
The narrower angle of LED fittings means bright pools of light with dimmer (but still adequate) regions between.
How long before some numpty at county hall thinks we need to fill the gaps?

 

 

All planned and sanctioned by office bureaucrats who have no practical knowledge of the lighting of different areas depending on what the requirements are. 

 

 

[Guest]

I can remember looking up when i was a kid in the 70s and while i didnt know what i was looking at, everything was definitely easier to see.  The sky glow from the two cities was a fraction of what it is today.  So i live with bortle 4 skies and like it. 

[NGC 1502]

I live in Southend Essex and it’s not nearly as bad as you may think.

One excellent night, with averted vision, I think I saw the full moon.

😁

[DaveS]

As a kid I remember seeing the milky way from Acton in West London. OK, it wasn't a river of gems, but it was there, and all the stars of UMi were visible.

I think the last time I saw anything of the MW (As a thin ribbon of light) was on a superlative night in the mid '80s

[apaulo]

we are told that the great wall of china is visible from the moon. what they havnt told us is that,  anywhere from lancaster to stratford upon avon  neil armstrong could read the street names with a pair of 8x binos.  he was dissappointed that he didnt have a solar filter with him as he was hoping to see oxford street in london.