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Darkest Spots on Earth
Yahoo ^

Posted on 01/29/2014 1:17:00 PM PST by gooblah

If you live in Barrow, Alaska there was cause to celebrate last week - because the sun came up. That event seems commonplace to most of us, but because Barrow is so far north, the sun sets in late November and doesn’t rise again until late January – around two months of total darkness.But the longest stretch of darkness is at the South and North Poles. Because of the Earth’s tilt on its axis, each pole experiences approximately six straight months of darkness – from September to March at the North Pole, and March to September at the South Pole.You might think that makes the Poles a great place to stargaze, but the harsh weather conditions mean that astronomers often seek out more convenient dark places to study the heavens. One such place is Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania. The park is in a rural location away from the lights of civilization and lighting there is intentionally kept dim and given a red tint, making the night sky exceptionally dark.But in other places, the darkness is less desirable. The villages of Rjukan, Norway, and Viganella, Italy are each located in deep valleys, and nearby mountains block sunlight for much of the year. To combat the problem, the towns have installed giant, computerized mirrors to reflect sunlight down into the villages. Of course, many of the darkest places on Earth aren’t located on land, but beneath the ocean. There’s virtually no light below an ocean depth of about 1,000 feet. Since the average ocean depth worldwide is over 13,000 feet, that means over 90% of the Earth’s oceans are too dark for us to see. So we’re probably better off staying on land, even if it’s somewhere as dark as Barrow, Alaska.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: sciencechat

1 posted on 01/29/2014 1:17:00 PM PST by gooblah
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To: gooblah

Do you have a dark spot on your past?
Bring it to my man. He’ll fix it fast.


2 posted on 01/29/2014 1:19:15 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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To: All

Click The Pic

3 posted on 01/29/2014 1:20:25 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Support Free Republic!!!)
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To: gooblah

I thought the darkest place on earth was a liberal’s heart.


4 posted on 01/29/2014 1:24:03 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Haven't you lost enough freedoms? Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: gooblah
I could not deal with that.

Two days without direct sunshine drives me crazy.

5 posted on 01/29/2014 1:25:01 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: gooblah

Darkest Spots on Earth

Harry Reid’s soul


6 posted on 01/29/2014 1:29:18 PM PST by kidd
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To: elkfersupper
I used to live in Eagle River, AK with a mountain range to the immediate south. During December~January, the sun would be visible just outside the range from 2:30~3:30.

Sometimes a nap meant you missed seeing the sun. It was light out for many hours, but direct sunlight was that limited.

7 posted on 01/29/2014 1:34:59 PM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: elkfersupper

250+ cloudy days per year in western NY was one reason we left.


8 posted on 01/29/2014 1:35:06 PM PST by ctdonath2 (Making good people helpless doesn't make bad people harmless.)
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To: gooblah
One of my very vivid memories is of spending a night on Marathon Key,Florida....about half way between Miami and Key West.It was a cool,crystal clear January night (cool by *their* standards at least) and the sky was filled with a trillion twinkling stars.Having been a city boy all my life I had never seen anything like it before.

On my bucket list is a visit to the European Southern Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.They say there are parts of that desert that haven't seen rain in 400 years.Given that it's in the middle of nowhere I'll bet the stars shine pretty brightly over the Atacama.

9 posted on 01/29/2014 1:36:11 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (Osama Obama Care: A Religion That Will Have You On Your Knees!)
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To: Gay State Conservative

I spent some time out in the middle of the Arabian peninsula. The stars were amazing. Hope you get Atacama.


10 posted on 01/29/2014 1:46:18 PM PST by Gamecock (If you like your constitution, you can keep your constitution. Period. (M.S.))
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To: gooblah

Pretty dark where the liberals have their heads.


11 posted on 01/29/2014 1:58:01 PM PST by Proud2BeRight
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Do you have a dark spot on your past?
Bring it to my man. He’ll fix it fast.

...will make your mug shots disappear.


12 posted on 01/29/2014 1:58:16 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed ("Income Inequality?" Let's start with Washington DC vs. the rest of the nation!)
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To: Gay State Conservative

On my bucket list is a visit to the European Southern Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.They say there are parts of that desert that haven’t seen rain in 400 years.Given that it’s in the middle of nowhere I’ll bet the stars shine pretty brightly over the Atacama.


Tonopah Nevada advertises itself as the stargazing capital of the US, if you’re on budget.


13 posted on 01/29/2014 2:00:14 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed ("Income Inequality?" Let's start with Washington DC vs. the rest of the nation!)
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To: Atlas Sneezed

Yellowstone had more stars than I ever saw in my life!


14 posted on 01/29/2014 2:15:16 PM PST by bicyclerepair (TERM LIMITS TERM LIMITS TERM LIMITS)
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To: Atlas Sneezed
Tonopah Nevada advertises itself as the stargazing capital of the US, if you’re on budget.

I live on the California Nevada border not far from Tonopah. It is very dark here at night. Most visitors here are stunned by the millions of stars in our sky. It is even darker in the nearby 14,000 White Mountains where you can see the dim lights of Las Vegas 260 miles to the south.

15 posted on 01/29/2014 2:19:06 PM PST by Inyo-Mono (NRA)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Sign in, stranger.


16 posted on 01/29/2014 2:19:52 PM PST by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
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To: gooblah

“There’s virtually no light below an ocean depth of about 1,000 feet.”

There is no light in caves, no ‘virtually’ about it.


17 posted on 01/29/2014 2:36:03 PM PST by Owl558 (Those who remember George Santayana are doomed to repeat him)
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To: Inyo-Mono

What’s surprising to most people is that the “millions of stars” on the darkest night is actually...

3000.


18 posted on 01/30/2014 5:39:58 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed ("Income Inequality?" Let's start with Washington DC vs. the rest of the nation!)
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To: ctdonath2
250+ cloudy days per year in western NY was one reason we left.

I once had to spend two weeks in Portland, OR in late January / early February.

If I hadn't gotten out of there when I did, they would still be talking about me.

19 posted on 01/30/2014 1:42:06 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: elkfersupper

I hear you. 265 days a year of sunshine here. 5” of rain a year on average. Most precip here comes in form of snow.


20 posted on 01/30/2014 6:33:21 PM PST by Inyo-Mono (NRA)
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