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I live in the middle of the Sprawl; if I'm lucky, on a very clear night, I see 9 stars (I counted). If I drive 20 miles, I'll at least see more stars than I have fingers but I'd probably need twice that for a even a /chance/ to see the comet. And for "astronomy class", ohmigosh-the-universe-is-huge-I-need-to-go-home-and-reconsider-my-place-in-the-universe type of sky-gazing, we're talking at least a 200 mile drive to get clear of the light and pollution of the cities. And I /know/ that whatever day I set aside to make that drive, it's going to be cloudy that night.

It's a shame too. I personally think that the reason our society is becoming insular and risk-averse is that - with so many of us cloistered in cities - we no longer have the awe-inspiring panorama of the night-sky coming out every night to challenge us. Surrounded by our warrens, the universe looks conquered already, so why bother spending trillions just to poke the "rare" unexplored bit? Sometimes I half-believe our society would react like in Asimov's "Nightfall" were we all suddenly to be confronted with an unblemished night sky again.

Here is the real site with the actual map: http://www.jshine.net/astronom...

No, that's a site with a map - had you actually read the article, you'd have found it included a way to incorporate the information in Google Earth (a map program, you may have heard of it) as well.
 

I love how the most modern looking sites with all the share, like, and tracking code embedded into them have the least amount of information...

The article referenced in the summary had plenty of information - including two different ways to get the dark sky maps.

Here is the real site with the actual map: http://www.jshine.net/astronom... I love how the most modern looking sites with all the share, like, and tracking code embedded into them have the least amount of information...

Here's the US light pollution map: http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/ and here's what the colours mean: http://cleardarksky.com/lp/VndbtPObNYlp.html?Mn=cameras If you haven't been to a truly dark sky (blue or darker on that map) then you really owe it to yourself to go. Just take yourself and some binoculars and look up. Mind-blowing. Unfortunately, the skies are just getting brighter the whole time. Whilst LEDs are more directional, they're also brighter and they deliver whiter light that does more harm to your dark adaptation and is harder to filter out. If LEDs were used properly, we might have a chance for getting better illumination and an improvement in light pollution. From what I've been seeing, though, LEDs are just going to make things worse.

I'm an amateur astronomer. If you haven't seen the night sky from a really dark location then you owe it to yourself to do so. This map of the US shows you where's dark and where's not: http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/ Basically, anywhere "blue" and darker will be breathtaking. You can go and just look up or bring binoculars and a simple star chart. You don't need fancy equipment to enjoy astronomy, but a dark sky is important. If you want to get into it and buy a telescope then perfectly serviceable ones are now pretty cheap. There's a great forum called cloudynights.com, where you can ask questions and learn more. Basic rule is to buy a telescope from a dedicated astronomical telescope supplier not a department store.

This site is great: http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/index.php

Not my website, so I apologize in advance to the host for the slashdotting but:

http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/

A nice Google map interface that shows you levels of light pollution for the USA. It goes from 0 (Like my hometown, Boston, MA) to 7 (Like the middle-of-nowhere, Maine).

Apparently the awe inspiring view I experienced in Vermont is only a level 4, I'm definitely going to have to make the road trip up to Maine and have my mind blown by perfectly dark sky.

Most rxr's here in the US use light water. Ours at U-Wisconsin does ( is a pool of light water -- not heavy water.

Here at the UWisconsin Madison we have a SNAP-TRIGA rxr with 70% enriched fuel. Tech. Info and Photos Of course, there isn't enough material to make a bomb (takes more to go fast-critical than thermal-critical).

I'm a chemical engineering senior at the UofWisconsin Madison. Two years ago I took a nuclear reactor lab class here at the UW where we learned about and operated the college's reactor (1 megawatt thermal -- lots of good info at this site). It was one of our lab exercises to rapidly remove the control blades (flat plates in this reactor -- not rods) all the way to create a pulse. A *pulse*. That is, even with the blades removed, the reactor would not melt down. (can see it at this site) Since the rxr was water-moderated, there is no conceivable mode of operation which would allow the core to melt. In fact, it's so safe that it was built right in the middle of campus. And this was designed back in the day...