It occurs to me that in our extremely urbanized America that many have likely never seen the Milky Way. Some have never even seen the Big Dipper. With that in mind…

Question:
Have you ever seen the Milky Way?

Choices:
Yes
No
When I was a kid (Scouts or something), not since

Question:
How about the Big Dipper?

Choices:
Of course I have
No
Same as above, a long time ago

Question:
Out of curiosity, is it dark in the vicinity of your house, or does the neighborhood burn lights all night?

Choices:
It’s dark
My neighborhood is lit up at night
Something in between

 

To be fair and full disclosure, you can see some amazing stuff 35,000 - 41,000 feet at night

I have seen the Milky Way circa 1990, at the "Racetrack" dry lake in Death Valley Nat'l Park.

I grew up at the edge of a small town in Missouri, a long time ago. The Milky Way and major constellations were easily visible. The big and little dippers, Cassiopeia, etc. And lightning bugs too! I miss all of them.

In the middle of Lake Superior, or in the BWCA, or in Rangiroa, it can be truly stunning!

I live in a city of 4 million people. You can't see much in the sky at night.

But it was darker when I was a kid, and I have been to many places not so near big cities.

I can barely see the big dipper with the amount of light in the sky here. No chance of seeing the milky way.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
To be fair and full disclosure, you can see some amazing stuff 35,000 - 41,000 feet at night

Some of which cannot be explained

My neighborhood is lit with streetlights but they’re directional LEDs (I think) so one can still see a lot of brighter stars. The Night Sky app on my phone is a lot of fun after dark and has helped me learn to identify a number of constellations (though not much recently due to work). To see the Milky Way or to use my telescope, I like to visit my parents’ house in the country.

Many times, but one is special.

My spouse and I did not have time or money to take any kind of a honeymoon after we married.

So, we put it off until 1990. That year we decided to drive the PCH from LA to Seattle over 18 days. So we flew to Phoenix so I could teach a class for my employer, and while we were there, took our rental car on an unplanned mad dash to the Grand Canyon (the PCH part started the next day).

We got there about an hour before nightfall, and Sara was suitably impressed, save for when she looked over a railing, down about 400 feet (she has acrophobia).

On the way back, we took the Kaibib Plateau route to Flagstaff. I stopped at one point about halfway there (where there wasn't a man-made light in sight) and we got out into a crisp December night, about freezing, with no moon.

The Milky Way was out in all of its absolute grandeur. Brilliant glow.

We stood there leaning against the car for easily 30 minutes, by which time we were getting cold.

Sara looked at me and said simply "I now understand Carl Sagan."

She's from the Palm Beach area of Florida and had never seen stars like that before.

Milky Way, Big Dipper see them almost every night, yes it's dark.

.

My neighborhood is lit with lights, there are over 700,000 people in the county, and we're part of a metropolitan area with about 7.1M people. We can be seen from space, but too much light pollution for vice versa.

I look forward to retiring and buying land out in the country. Seeing the stars at night is one of the simple joys I'm anticipating.

Pretty cool memory, sig

Late at night when I go to the ocean to fish the sky is filled with stars. Come mid September when the tourists leave there is very little light pollution.

I'm in a fair bit out of major cities, but it's not super dark here. There are neighbors houses etc. I did start stargazing when I moved here and for a while I thought the milky way was just some light clouds I see at night. Then I realized it was the same every night. Pretty cool to see, but it's definitely not a vivid view. More like a line of light haze.


I can easily see the dippers, Cassiopea, Orion, etc.

semi rural, but close enought to RVA and Chester/Colonial Heights to get some light on the horizon,

however had grandparents way out in the country, and wife is from the country too, so we both have seen it in our youth

most recent was a few years ago, was set up at a gunshow in NOVA, and Sat evening drove down to an area just north of Luray to look at some guns and stuff,

on the way back it was pitch black,
pulled off the side road we were on so we could both take a piss, and looked up,

not a cloud in the sky,
no light pollution on the horizon , and the milky way

I had an Aunt, uncle, cousins in true BFE Southeast New Mexico that was a company town (Jal) for a petroleum/natural gas operation. There was a gas station, and that's it. We visited from the latter 60's through the early 70's.

The stars in the sky were so vivid, I remember for a second it almost looked fake. Then that second passed. I had never seen that 'diamond dust' look of distant stars and faraway solar systems that I had only seen in National Geographic. But now in real life with my own eyes.

Incredible.

We live where a dark sky is very nearby. We can sit out during the Summer and see a faint Milky Way, within an hour drive we can get to where it's really bright. When I walk my dog at 0530 in the Winter the Big Dipper is right above me.

I'm out in the middle of nowhere!
And have a slew of telescopes!

Wow, as a casual yet lifelong fan of astronomy who has gone on many deep youtube dives...I've only seen the Milky Way once: Summer 1988, Army ROTC advanced camp, out with a few cadets and a really sharp SF captain in the middle of nowhere Ft. Bragg, NC: looked up and saw it... My best memory of those 6 weeks. So. Long. Ago.