I just got my May/June Night Sky magazine (run by the Sky & Telescope folks), and want to say THANK YOU Phil for writing an article on light pollution. Considering I had "Save the Dark" in my signature forever, and my constant whining about it, it's good to see articles reminding people just how bad our skies have become around our cities. It's not the most exciting thing to write about, but it's important.

They don't let you link to the article, reasonably so, since it's only $17 a year for a subscription. (I think Phil and pals are worth $17...maybe not $20, but $17 is fair... ) But I'll quote the last paragraph which explains why I changed my location from Light Polluted, TX to:

Here are some links mentioned in the article to check out regarding your location. Click on Clear Sky Clocks (their e.g. happens to be Cherry Springs State Park in PA), and you can plug in your location, and once you bring up your clock, click on the Nifty Links box titled "Light Pollution." (most people here have seen this site before.)

Look at this pathetic white blob I live in!(that's Houston proper) The observatory is just barely in the yellow range, but as I noticed driving home after the moon had played hide-n-seek with the Pleiades, the doggie racetrack was so monstrously bright it hurt my eyes when I passed it. There's no need for that.

See too: http://darksky.org/ and the folks who work hard fighting town councils et al while we enjoy the fruit of their labors.

So, when will we get an article about the exploding (not) sun? You could title the article again, "Blinded By the Light."

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Sunset

Die Sonne scheidet hinter dem Gebirge. In alle Täler steigt der Abend nieder
mit seinen Schatten, die voll Kühlung sind.

Here's where I'm located, at the white plus sign just inside the blue zone,




which means

Quote:

Low light domes (10 to 15 degrees) on horizon. M33 easy with averted vision. M15 is naked eye. Milky way shows bulge into Ophiuchus. Limiting magnitude 6.6 to 7.0.

This coincides with my own observing experiences, especially just after a cold front has pushed through and air is nice and clear. As might be expected, the sky is really dark toward the south.

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That's pretty darn good, though I expected you would have much better skies where you are compared to my white blob, though I thought you were closer to "white-proper." So, what kind of telescope do you have? I could see a few bright stars from my window last night--literally a handful. At least the moon was nice and clear all day. A proper tour would be nice, indeed.

BTW, at 92 degrees F people get realll irritable!

__________________
Sunset

Die Sonne scheidet hinter dem Gebirge. In alle Täler steigt der Abend nieder
mit seinen Schatten, die voll Kühlung sind.