Nice View of Jupiter Tonight

[Erichalfbee]

I hadn't heard of these "dark skies"until this story of a couple of days ago down here....

I lived in the London suburbs for 30 years and hardly saw a star. We moved to west Wales in 2012 and I still gaze at the Milky Way in wonder

 

[JamezF]

It's shocking how bad the light pollution is in some parts of the world (including much of the UK). Perhaps even more when one considers that much of that light pollution is just wasted energy (and therefore money) that never went where it was actually useful.

There are sensors to measure the sky brightness at night, but it's also common for amateur astronomers to refer to "Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude" or NELM, which is basically the brightness of the least bright star visible overhead when the Moon is not in the sky. I think Google's Sky Map has some functionality to help estimate it, though I've always done it by waiting for Ursa Minor (obviously this only works in the northern hemisphere) to be roughly overhead and then finding which stars I can make out in order of decreasing brightness. The best I've ever managed here is 5.7, compared with what's often considered to be the best possible figure of 6. It's a (reversed) log 10 scale, so a magnitude of 4 is ten times brighter than 5 and one hundred times brighter than 6. From memory the Moon is about -12.

It takes about thirty minutes for the eyes to become properly dark adapted and it's easier for younger people because their eyes are more responsive in the first place, but experience helps as well and there's a technique called "averted vision" where you don't look directly at what you want to see in order to be able to see it It works because of the varying concentration and sensitivity of rods and cones across the eye, but it's quite odd when you find something you can see if you look slightly away from it, but not when you look straight at it.

James

 

[Michael Palmer]

Here you go. I hate to say it, but this is relatively speaking quite tidy...

View attachment 35117

James

At least you know where everything is

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I hadn't heard of these "dark skies"until this story of a couple of days ago down here....

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02...k-starry-skies-from-light-pollution/101926102
Having gazed up at the stars on a clear night in the Tasmanian wilderness I describe it almost as a feeling of vertigo. Amazing.

https://www.nationalparks.uk/dark-skies/

The mountain range behind me (aptly named the Black Mountain) is the far South Western corner of the Brecon Beacons National park and we are classed as one of the best 'dark sky' reserves in the country, one of the best viewing sites is the castle where I have one of my apiaries and the other (pen rhiw Ddu) is just on the Northern boundary of the Drysgol which is the part of the mountain above Brynmair where my bees forage the heather

6. Pen Rhiw Ddu​

SN 730192 N51.51.13 W03.50.31​

The car park off the winding road between Llandeilo and Brynamman over the Black Mountain is a great location as there is good access from the Swansea Valley and plenty of room for telescopes. It also overlooks the darkness of Mid and West Wales with the skies here enjoying a limiting magnitude of 6.31.

7. Carreg Cennen​

SN 668193 N51.51.12. W03.56.02​

The wonderful castle at Carreg Cennen sitting on its huge limestone cliff offers a great day out with breathtaking views across the valley to the west and one of the darkest skies in the region at a limiting magnitude of 6.26. It is accessible from Llandeilo, Carmarthen and Ammanford and is within an hour’s drive of the South Wales valleys and the rural heartland of West Wales.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I lived in the London suburbs for 30 years and hardly saw a star. We moved to west Wales in 2012 and I still gaze at the Milky Way in wonder

I used to spend hours of an evening in Lesotho just staring at the night skies, there was virtually no light pollution, even in London (Pitseng) the trading post town where I was staying. One weekend, all of us Welsh Government ILO's went to stay in a 'luxury' nature park deep in the maluti mountains (we had booked the economy 'self catering' lodge away from the main complex and there' at night it was total pitch darkness and we just spent all evening sat outside on the veranda, a few bottles of Maluti beer just staring at the Southern skies

 

[Erichalfbee]

I used to spend hours of an evening in Lesotho just staring at the night skies, there was virtually no light pollution, even in London (Pitseng) the trading post town where I was staying. One weekend, all of us Welsh Government ILO's went to stay in a 'luxury' nature park deep in the maluti mountains (we had booked the economy 'self catering' lodge away from the main complex and there' at night it was total pitch darkness and we just spent all evening sat outside on the veranda, a few bottles of Maluti beer just staring at the Southern skies

It’s a wonderful Country. I spent one Christmas there hiking in the Drakensbergs with my daughter.
One of the clearest skies on another trip was in the Tunisian Sahara. I’ve been on a few challenging treks and have recommended them to others but the Sahara is hell on earth. I’ve no idea why Stan and I did it. Some stupid idea of mine!
But we slept out in the open in the dunes and watched satellites of all kinds buzzing about amongst the stars.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Tanzania was good as well, towards the end of our tour we spent two days at this conurbation down near the Mozambigue border - they were totally off grid, so even in the middle of the 'town', there were no street lights and the only lights in the guesthouse was battery storage from solar panels, we spent the whole evening just sat out on the land surrounding the guesthouse supping bamboo beer (pretty potent homemade stuff) chatting under the stars

 

[Erichalfbee]

Tanzania was good as well, towards the end of our tour we spent two days at this conurbation down near the Mozambigue border - they were totally off grid, so even in the middle of the 'town', there were no street lights and the only lights in the guesthouse was battery storage from solar panels, we spent the whole evening just sat out on the land surrounding the guesthouse supping bamboo beer (pretty potent homemade stuff) chatting under the stars

Yes you did a lot of bee stuff there. I was simply a tourist on Safari.

 

[Antipodes]

Fabulaous Aurora Australis here this morning. I hear the Aurora Borealis were good too. Perhaps more again tonight?

 

[Erichalfbee]

..

 

[Wilco]

It's one of my dreams to see it, was exhausted last night but driving back from a wedding tonight so here's hoping... Although there may be cloud.

 

[Antipodes]

It's one of my dreams to see it, was exhausted last night but driving back from a wedding tonight so here's hoping... Although there may be cloud.

It's on here again now. Fingers crossed for you.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It's on here again now. Fingers crossed for you.

Pictures please.

 

[pargyle]

It's one of my dreams to see it, was exhausted last night but driving back from a wedding tonight so here's hoping... Although there may be cloud.

It's scheduled to be good in the North tonight .. our son in Sheffield is going out to the Peak District with our grandson hoping it's going to be a clear night. It's only a three hour drive Will !

 

[JamezF]

One of my daughter's friends who is at Oxford Uni got some photos of it last night. I've never known it be visible so far south.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

One of my daughter's friends who is at Oxford Uni got some photos of it last night. I've never known it be visible so far south.

James

There are pictures from the Scillies on the Aurora Watch X page

 

[BeeBird]

Spectacular skies viewed from our farmyard last night

 

[E&MBees]

My son’s friend got some excellent photos from their garden in Bath. I forgot to look

 

[BeeBird]

You could catch a look at them tonight

 

[Antipodes]

Pictures please.

Aurora australis. The sky lit up last night. I just lay on the ground staring up as great pulses swept across the whole sky. Just amazing.

The Southern Cross is there in the photo too