Where did the stars go?

[beige_alert]

I just went outside and looked up, and the stars are missing. At my mother’s home in Green Valley, Arizona, 35 km from Tucson and 20 km from (and 1400 meters below) the observatory on Mt. Hopkins, the sky is black, the Milky Way is clearly visible, and there are zillions of stars in the sky. Here in Milwaukee, on a typically hazy night, the sky is light, the bright stars are visible, and detecting the Milky Way with the unaided eye is unthinkable. And this is a dark sky compared to Cook County, Illinois.

You can see the extra stars in the Milky Way with binoculars in Chicago or Milwaukee, but the first time I actually saw that band of light in the sky was at age 26 or so, camping away from the cities by the Wisconsin River.

I spent a lot of time looking at the sky during my time in Arizona.

Comments

[beige-alert.livejournal.com]

With well over over six billion of us, if people weren't packed into cities there would be no dark places at all. The two living situations that appeal to me are either downtown in the city, walking distance from the river, the lake, Central Library, and the various fun shops and restaurants downtown, or the opposite, out in the country, far enough from the neighbors to garden naked. Suburbia, not near anything except the neighbor who's always going around checking to see that everyone's curtains conform to the development's official list of approved curtain colors, does not appeal to me.

Last I checked, there were several bed and breakfasts in Arizona with an astronomical orientation, providing observing space and even telescopes. You can also spend a few hours on the top of Kitt Peak (http://www.noao.edu/outreach/nop/) in the evening, using what amateurs would consider large telescopes, 40 cm and 50 cm. For a larger fee, you can spend an entire night on the mountain, using the telescopes and film or CCD cameras.

Things to think about for my next visit to Arizona....