[masraum]

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

Dave, are the stars as visible to the naked eye (or through binocs) when you're out there, or does it require that 15-30 second exposure to show them that well?

I've been told that when you get a long ways away from civilization in places like rural Montana, the skies look like that at night and you can clearly see the MW. I gots ta see that someday.

A long exposure in a good digital camera will show more stars than you see with your eye, but when you get way out in the middle of no where and you let your eyes get used to the dark, you do see the milky way and an amazing amount of stars.

Light pollution from a city REALLY kills what you see. And it's not even really just if you are right in the light. The dust and humidity and haze in the air above a city usually means that the light covers the whole area like a blanket.

I didn't take this, but it's an example of the same shot in the same place during normal light and during a huge power outage.


"Before and during the 2003 Northeast blackout, a massive power outage that affected 55 million people. Photo by of Todd Carlson"

Again, not my photo, but a picture that shows the light pollution of Buenos Aires from 60 miles away from the city.

"The dome of yellowish light is light pollution from the big city of Buenos Aires about 100km to the East. Taken at the Mercedes Observatory, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Credit: Luis Argerich"

Here, you can see what you're up against.