Useful website

[gman]

This may have already been posted but I haven't spotted it.

The night sky in the World

Theres quite a few handy high resolution maps on here showing light pollution, what magnitudes should be visible etc. I've had a quick play about with them and its possible to use them as overlays in google earth.

It may be of use to those who go looking for dark sites.

Since the owners don't want people to redistribute the original image I'll post the instructions for an overlay that will give a rough fit. I've not got it 100% and plan on improving it sometime.

• Download this image and extract it somewhere.
  
• In google earth, click add > Image overlay
  
• Give the overlay a name and link to the location of the extracted image. Set the opacity slider to whatever you prefer.
  
• In the location tab, set the following coordinates: North - 72° 0'36.09"N | South - 31°58'17.97"N | East - 29°32'53.90"E | West - 10°31'27.62"W
  
• That should be about it. Click OK and hopefully the map will fit. There should be a new entry in my places.
  

Gareth