Dark rural skies are great. Many kids living in cities have never seen the Milky Way, which is one of the spiral arms of our own galaxy. We often go to a rural site at the 7000’ elevation. It’s spectacular.
LED’s will work but must be shielded to keep the light directed towards the ground, not up.
Millions of lights around cities have created giant light domes which can be seen for hundreds of miles. Lots of light/energy wasted lighting up the atmosphere. Cheap shielding would solve much of the problems which have nearly washed out the night skies in urban areas.
Yes, but you certainly don't need dark skies to see this pair. In fact, it might be difficult to spot them in very dark country skies with so many other stars visible. They should be easily seen from just about anywhere.
Impressive as the Hubbell photographs are, nothing for me is as good as just looking at the stars from an unspoiled vantage point.
During the Northridge quake, there were people in the black slum areas calling 9/11.
They had seen stars for the very first time in their lives, and didn’t know what to make of it.
One of my parents friends was a first responder down there at the time.