How bad is your light polution?

[Perryellis]

I do feel so sorry for some of you guys with bad light pollution although I did laugh at Astroboys comments about the Factory owner with extreme paranoia!..sorry!

I Seem to be pretty lucky with the skies here (N Devon). I can see the milky way quite clearly on a cloudless night but can't seem to count too many stars within pegasus square- I am new to this hobby and have been told that this is a good indicator of how clear your skies are. I can see maybe half a dozen at best with the naked eye.

":) I'm in the 'knowing a few constellations' camp too but I'm trying to learn as fast as I can so I can go to a meet without showing myself up :D"

And im in the same boat as this:rolleyes:

[Parus major]

I'm at,the knowing a few stage as well but since I can't go to a meet then noo danger of showing myself up so I'm happy to bash on in my own time.

Only place I can get my scope to is the garden and it's got a lamp hovering above it. Unfortunatley an airsoft M4 didn't even ding the plastic so I'm aiming to go a little more extreme.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I do feel so sorry for some of you guys with bad light pollution although I did laugh at Astroboys comments about the Factory owner with extreme paranoia!..sorry!

I Seem to be pretty lucky with the skies here (N Devon). I can see the milky way quite clearly on a cloudless night but can't seem to count too many stars within pegasus square- I am new to this hobby and have been told that this is a good indicator of how clear your skies are. I can see maybe half a dozen at best with the naked eye.

":) I'm in the 'knowing a few constellations' camp too but I'm trying to learn as fast as I can so I can go to a meet without showing myself up :D"

And im in the same boat as this:rolleyes:

Learning the night sky is not about rushing. Its about experience and practice. The more you observe the more you remember what is what and where it is.

I did a little test a few weeks ago on Stellarium. I am a self confessed total newbie when it comes to knowing the summer constellations even though i have been observing the skies for many yrs. I dont do much observing in the summer though.

I was very surprised at the results of the test i did. the test involved looking at Stellarium (summer constellations) without lines,artwork or labels and seeing just how many i could pick out. I reckoned my score to be about 70%.

Not bad considering my main observing time is between Oct-Apr.

[Perryellis]

I'm at,the knowing a few stage as well but since I can't go to a meet then noo danger of showing myself up so I'm happy to bash on in my own time.

Only place I can get my scope to is the garden and it's got a lamp hovering above it. Unfortunatley an airsoft M4 didn't even ding the plastic so I'm aiming to go a little more extreme.

Back in the day when I was a naughty young lad, me and my friends would shimmy up street lamps, knock a little whole in them with a stone and stick a banger inside (usually someone had brought a load back from France-little red,dynamite looking things!). They made a massive explosion and quite a pretty one too.

Not that I am saying that you should do this or anything but..it worked..thats all im saying:D

[Perryellis]

You are right luke. When I started stargazing as a hobby about 6 months ago I did not even know where Polaris was (oh the shame I know)! I bought a book on simple Astronomy and read up about it online etc. I have been using a cheap pair of Binocs to learn the skies and it is now starting to sink in.

I saw the picture on the 1st page of this thread and at first thought "where the heck is that" but after a few seconds I think I recognised it as the current North Eastern sky? with the bright star to the left being Capella. is that right do you know?

The North and Eastern skies are the best for viewing from my back garden so it looks familier. I am refering to abumuhannadhs photos by the way

[matteboy]

OK the only number I did know was M31, and I can find it with binocs, getting my eq1 mount to get the 'scope pointing at the same thing without it getting stuck on the controls is another matter! I have seen M13 ages ago at an astronomy night where someone with a nice scope let me have a peek (The only reason I know that is what is was is coz I just cheated and searched for M13 on Stellarium and remembered the big ball of stars near a big square!) I vaguely remember them showing me a blue and yellow double star somewhere in the same region but have no idea where that was now, would like to see if I can see that in my 'scope, maybe someone can tell me where to look!

[LukeSkywatcher]

A blue and yellow double...............

Sounds like that could only be Albireo. Its in the constellation of Cygnus~~~the Swan also known as "The Northern Cross". It is due west right now and when you find it, Albireo is the star at the bottom of the "cross".

[Parus major]

Back in the day when I was a naughty young lad, me and my friends would shimmy up street lamps, knock a little whole in them with a stone and stick a banger inside (usually someone had brought a load back from France-little red,dynamite looking things!). They made a massive explosion and quite a pretty one too.

Not that I am saying that you should do this or anything but..it worked..thats all im saying:D

I've got a 3g mortar pyro that would do more than blow the filament out it but I've apso got very nosey neighbours who fix it for me to get visits from the enviromental health man for having bird feeders. I think I'd end up in the cells if I did anything obvious to it. ;(

[Sirius_Starseed]

There are 4 street lamps which shine near the right side of our garden. Apart from them that's about it. Our garden is a reasonable size and they don't affect it much, especially the left side. As for them ruining my views, I really don't know as I haven't had a chance to use my 'scope yet (it's killing me). On a really dark, clear and crisp night I can see loads of stars with the naked eye. The Plough is as clear as day, same with Arctaurus.

[Cygnus X-1]

I live within 15 mins drive of Heathrow (so plenty of identified FOs) and the rear garden backs on to a school with security lights. I struggle with the less obvious DSOs and would estimate that that the best naked eye magnification I can see is arond 4. Practically this means that I can make out the more obvious constellations but struggle with something like Cancer for example.

I belong to fishing club though and 30 mins drive away is a venue between Maidenhead and Reading with padlocked car park, well off the main road and reasonable horizons. I intend to try this as alternative soon. Indeed I used to watch meteor shows here whilst night fishing before getting back into Astronomy.

[matteboy]

Thanks Lukeskywatcher, I'm sure that's the one, ok so aim for the beak!

Much appreciated:hello2:

[Perryellis]

"I saw the picture on the 1st page of this thread and at first thought "where the heck is that" but after a few seconds I think I recognised it as the current North Eastern sky? with the bright star to the left being Capella. is that right do you know?"

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I have just re-read the type above the photo and it seems that the bright star is jupiter and in a completely differnt part of the sky!

[PortableAstronomer]

I live near Schiphol airport (Amsterdam), so this is the sort of illumination I deal with....

Most of the light in this picture is actually from big greenhouses, growing various veggies to export to UK supermarkets !

Here is what sort of images are possible from this location on one of my earlier threads:

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-tips-tricks-techniques/93728-examples-extreme-processing-extreme-light-pollution.html

Apologies for those who've read that thread already, but I thought it appropriate to re-mention it because it shows the "before and after" processing, a bit like your Photoshopped example of removing the glow, but I use PixInisight.