science How Dark are Your Skies?

[Phosphor 11,546]

How dark are the skies where you live, according to this map?

https://cires.colorado.edu/Artificial-light

I live in a yellow zone. The Milky Way is visible but there is a light dome that extends about 45° in the eastern sky. The clouds overhead at night are faintly lit, tho they're much brighter towards the light dome.

Hopefully later this year, I will move to my new place, which is in a blue zone. Over there, the Milky Way arches over the sky and the clouds are black for most of the sky. The Zodiacal Light is incredibly bright before sunrise. There is one low light dome present about 12.5° above the southeast horizon. There are so many stars visible, it's breathtaking! 

[LegoDashie 1,810]

not that much i live close to my city XD

[Lord Midnight Madness 1,544]

Pitch black i live out of town.

[Splashee 28,606]

Between dark red and orange. It is okay for living so close to the capital.

[Odyssey 5,721]

I live in a light blue zone, and because I basically live in the middle of nowhere, I can travel out 15km to a black zone. I've driven out of town many nights now just to see the stars, they look absolutely perfect. The last time I went out is probably the best one yet 

[Here No Longer 5,290]

Yeah where I live now is in pink, so... definitely not dark at all.

 

I mean even when I lived out in the country, where I lived is in yellow on that map.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Angel_Dust

[Stone Cold Steve Jobs 22,514]

Not all that dark, but the light pollution isn’t so bad we can’t see anything either. Somewhere around the middle of the road!

[Sondash Studios 4,879]

It's a really light pink, is that a good or bad thing?

[Anneal 2,198]

Well in the red. California is highly urbanized, so there isn't many dark sites in the state. My hometown is San Jose but I live in Santa Barbara to go to college. I used to live in LA as well and the high light pollution and poor air quality makes it near impossible to see anything in the sky.

It doesn't have to be this way, though. City policies can do a lot to reduce light pollution; a lot of the small cities in Arizona such as Flagstaff actually use LED lampposts that face downward and some homes there have exterior shades to prevent interior light from going out. Flagstaff is one of the few cities that is considered a dark sky location, and the effects can be pretty dramatic; for comparison, Cheyenne has the same population and area as Flagstaff but has more than ten times the light pollution.

[Phosphor 11,546]

12 hours ago, Odyssey said:

I live in a light blue zone, and because I basically live in the middle of nowhere, I can travel out 15km to a black zone. I've driven out of town many nights now just to see the stars, they look absolutely perfect. The last time I went out is probably the best one yet 

Nice! I have yet to experience a night sky in a black zone.  

7 hours ago, Sondash Studios said:

It's a really light pink, is that a good or bad thing?

Light pink is very bright, so you won't see many stars. Only the brightest ones would be visible. 

4 hours ago, Anneal said:

Well in the red. California is highly urbanized, so there isn't many dark sites in the state. My hometown is San Jose but I live in Santa Barbara to go to college. I used to live in LA as well and the high light pollution and poor air quality makes it near impossible to see anything in the sky.

It doesn't have to be this way, though. City policies can do a lot to reduce light pollution; a lot of the small cities in Arizona such as Flagstaff actually use LED lampposts that face downward and some homes there have exterior shades to prevent interior light from going out. Flagstaff is one of the few cities that is considered a dark sky location, and the effects can be pretty dramatic; for comparison, Cheyenne has the same population and area as Flagstaff but has more than ten times the light pollution.

I visited Flagstaff a couple years ago and really like the way they regulate outdoor lighting. Wish more urban areas would do the same. Shielded lights with a low color temperature minimize light pollution. 

[Lucky Bolt 35,271]

Here in the suburbs, dark enough to see a little scattering of stars. But just a 25 minute drive west of here though there’s an area I found that’s perfect for stargazing. Well, as perfect as I can find that’s close by anyway.  I still have yet to really plan an evening out there. I’d rather take a friend with me but none of my “friends” here would think that would be worth doing. “Drive out to the middle of no where at night?? HAHA” 

[Misty Gust 709]

I can stargaze off the back porch at my house.

And I'd love to @Lucky Bolt and I imagine your boyfriend would too. Double date?

[Lucky Bolt 35,271]

2 minutes ago, Misty Breeze said:

I can stargaze off the back porch at my house.

And I'd love to @Lucky Bolt and I imagine your boyfriend would too. Double date?

WELP that settles it I think I’m just gonna move back to Illinois. 

[Yoshi89 5,294]

I figured I'd be in a pink section. That's Long Island for ya.

[DubWolf 20,687]

Suburbs... sometimes a decent amount of stars visible, but nothing impressive.

Seriously want to go out West to stargaze... not too far from here.

[Flow 1,653]

It could be red, or pink. You can only find 5 or less stars in the sky here.

[The Kaeya Simp 13,999]

I live in "the schemes" we would say (basically the cheap housing and on the outskirts of the cities),

so the stars are kind of visible when the sky is clear

[Early Sunsets 2,112]

I'm right on the edge of a dark(er) pink section. Roanoke is somewhat large, so downtown puts out a bunch of light pollution.

[DixonTheAdversary 1,638]

I live in a dark pink area, bordering on red.

[ChikaChan 7,330]

Is dark but with a'lot of street lights on

[DubWolf 20,687]

Shouldn’t dark skies mean there’s a lot of city lights  ?

A dark sky would just be black, no  ?

You think this is dark?

 

[Phosphor 11,546]

3 hours ago, WWolf said:

A dark sky would just be black, no  ?

Actually, no. In the absence of light pollution, natural airglow limits how dark the night sky can get. There are also other natural sources that affect night sky brightness: Milky Way, Gegenschein, Zodiacal light, and scattered starlight. 

[Anneal 2,198]

5 hours ago, WWolf said:

Shouldn’t dark skies mean there’s a lot of city lights  ?

A dark sky would just be black, no  ?

You think this is dark?

A dark sky doesn't literally mean that the sky is dark, just that there is a lack of artificial light pollution. Many observatories and radio telescopes are located in dark sky regions, away from civilization, to minimize light pollution.

[Splashee 28,606]

On 4/17/2020 at 7:18 PM, WWolf said:

You think this is dark?

That's really bad.. So much light pollution, as can be seen in the air. You need a pitch black sky basically, with tiny stars.... Well, maybe some nebulas and ... (goes on for a while) (has no idea what he is talking about)

[Phosphor 11,546]

2 hours ago, Super Splashee said:

That's really bad.. So much light pollution, as can be seen in the air. You need a pitch black sky basically, with tiny stars.... Well, maybe some nebulas and ... (goes on for a while) (has no idea what he is talking about)

Not really. What you see in long exposures is much different from the naked eye. The light dome in the pic appears fairly low, so I'd say those skies are pretty dark, at least at the zenith.

The night sky is never pitch black due to airglow and other natural sources of light. If it does appear black, your eyes aren't dark adapted.