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How To Find Nearby Dark Skies, No Matter Where You Are

Posted by timothy on from the look-for-the-planetarium-signs dept.

StartsWithABang (3485481) writes "For those of us living in or around large cities — and that's most of us — we're completely divorced from dark, clear night skies as part of our routine experience. But even though our skies may typically rate a seven or higher on the Bortle Dark Sky Scale, that doesn't mean that significantly darker skies aren't accessible. Here's how to install an interactive light pollution map for yourself, and find the darkest skies near you no matter where you are! (North American-centric, but resources are provided for those elsewhere in the world.)"

9 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. As a North Korean, I don't have that problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Finding an internet connection is a bit more of a challenge.

    1. Re:As a North Korean, I don't have that problem by opusman · · Score: 2

      In communist North Korea, darkness finds you!

  2. Fly past the modern-looking junky blog site by ModernGeek · · Score: 4, Informative

    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...

    --
    Sig: I stole this sig.
    1. Re:Fly past the modern-looking junky blog site by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:Fly past the modern-looking junky blog site by houghi · · Score: 4, Informative

      Or just go to the page with the Google Earth image overlays for artificial night sky brightness that you can import into Google Earth and has images for the rest of the world as well.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    3. Re:Fly past the modern-looking junky blog site by pla · · Score: 2

      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.

      Let's see, download and install a program plus download an import a map layer... Or visit a URL.

      Yes, not the same thing - But the GP's link counts as a heck of a lot more convenient for those of us who just want to find the nearest convenient spot with the lowest light pollution.

      In my case, thanks to the GP, that took about 20 seconds to discover that I live at the edge of a 3 or 4 zone, and I have a ton of options for getting a 2 about an hour's drive away.

      Or, I could have followed the directions in TFA and still have Google Earth spending the next hour killing my bandwidth downloading map tiles.


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

      Do you mean the closing paragraph's "Or, for the incredibly lazy, click here for a click-and-drag map" - Which conspicuously didn't actually include any sort of link?

  3. Well, here's a screen cap of Montana by fyngyrz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When (if) you look at this, note the huge mess over in North Dakota. That's largely gas burn-off from oil wells. Luckily, I"m far enough west of them that I still have actual dark skies (little green plus marker, top right) but I think we're at severe risk of suffering the same light insult as them before too much longer.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/...

    Been shooting so as to take advantage of it while I can, examples:

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/... ...and...

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/... ...that's all camera work, btw, no telescopes, though I do have some moderately long lenses. ;)

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  4. Get a pellet gun by sjames · · Score: 2

    n/t

  5. It's like the frog in the pot of heating water... by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 2

    With the gradual encroachment of around-the-clock bright light everywhere, you don't realize what you're losing.

    Last time I went to a planetarium show, they did the standard slow-dimming-background thing, until you could see the equivalent of magnitude 5. "Ah", I thought, "this is what I remember dark skies looking like. It's a shame I have to drive an hour to see them now."

    Then we heard the voice of the narrator: "This is what most people see at night today. Now, we'll show you what a truly dark sky looks like..."

    ...and the bottom fell out of the sky.

    The number of stars multiplied at least tenfold. I still literally start to tear up when I think about it. Because I do remember, now, seeing skies like that when I was much younger; but with ubiquitous "safety" lighting, and my aging eyes, I doubt I'll ever see them again.