(Originally posted on Friday, 23 April 2021)
The first two videos below are simply spectacular, but it’s the third video that is really mind-blowing! The problem of light pollution is not only about “how many stars you can see”, but it’s also about the life (or death) of many living species on the Earth! Interestingly, it’s also about safety of people, including policemen, but it turns out that very bright night-streets are NOT safer! Though-provoking stuff, really!
Turn the full screen on!
Here I would like to point out something that I have just realized – the maximum star magnitude that you can see with the naked eye in the DARKEST locations on Earth is ONLY 7 or 8! But in my small telescope (70/700 refractor) on a balcony in a city with big light pollution I can see (in good viewing conditions) even stars of magnitude 9! The catch is that the field of view of any telescope is EXTREMELY narrow when compared to the field of view of the naked eye, so the experience is greatly diminished.
Yes, it's fun to see many stars even from the middle of a city with big light pollution (thanks to a telescope), but it doesn't compare to the awesomeness of very dark skies. Obviously when you go out of a city to a place with significantly lower light pollution then the overall number of stars that can be seen in a given observing tool will be MUCH higher, so it's doubly worth it!
No comments:
Post a Comment