63
votes
Why is Starlink polluting the night sky a big concern if we have space telescopes?
It's a problem because there are still lots and lots and lots of ground-based telescopes.
Ground-based telescopes are still (by far) the biggest optical telescopes, and the cost of space telescopes ...
- 103k
34
votes
Accepted
Why are fewer stars seen next to the horizon?
When you look towards the horizon you are looking through a much greater thickness of air. The air does absorb some light. Dense air near surface absorbs more, and if you look towards the horizon ...
- 103k
26
votes
Telescope on drones to escape light pollution?
Yes, but not in the exact way you think of.
To avoid light pollution it is better to go sideways. If you are in a light-polluted city, there would still be light pollution at an altitude of 400ft (...
- 103k
16
votes
Accepted
Will Starlink deface the night sky?
Satellites just add moving lights to the sky, they do not obscure stars. However, some may find that disrupting their view of what a sky should look like.
The visual magnitude of starlink satellites ...
- 11.3k
15
votes
Why is Starlink polluting the night sky a big concern if we have space telescopes?
To expand on the "space telescopes are expensive" aspect:
Space telescopes cannot be maintained or repaired. This applies not
just to things like optics and
instruments, but also to space-...
- 15.7k
12
votes
Will Starlink deface the night sky?
A nightmare for star hopping
I can only speak as an amateur astronomer with a 10-inch Dobsonian.
My telescope has no GOTO or tracking, so if I want to find something interesting in the sky, I have to ...
- 1,365
12
votes
Accepted
Binoculars 10x50 in light polluted place
This is totally anecdotal, but based on my own observations with a pair of 10x50 binoculars on a light-polluted suburban street in South East England...
Rings of Saturn: No
Moons of Jupiter: Yes, all ...
- 136
11
votes
What would the night sky look like if Earth orbited an intergalactic star?
Since Andromeda is already visible to the naked eye, to a civilization located at half the distance from the Milky Way, Andromeda would be still be visible. Its total brightness would be four times ...
- 35.6k
9
votes
What would the night sky look like if Earth orbited an intergalactic star?
Planets, if any in that star system, would be visible to the naked eye, the way you can see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus in our system. On a virtually empty sky, they would draw ...
- 17.8k
8
votes
Accepted
How does the illumination of the sky from the sun compare to that of the moon?
The question is not altogether well defined. One needs to specify what wavelength is being considered and at what position in the sky - since a twilight sky has a very significant gradient of sky ...
- 131k
7
votes
Why is Starlink polluting the night sky a big concern if we have space telescopes?
One thing I always like to add is that ground based telescopes benefit from being able to take huge amounts of data. The Vera Rubin Observatory will have a 3.5 Gigapixel camera. There are proposals to ...
- 181
7
votes
Why does light pollution make the night sky completely black without stars?
The city sky is not black. It is so bright it "washes out" the stars.
You discern objects because of contrast between them and their background. Think of a polar bear against the snow. All ...
- 695
6
votes
What does the milky way look like from earth to the human eye without light pollution?
It is pretty obvious from a dark sky.
Sky and Telescope have a simulation (using stellarium) of the sky with a limiting magnitude of 6.5 (about the limit with excellent eyesight and a very dark sky). ...
- 103k
6
votes
What would the night sky look like if Earth orbited an intergalactic star?
You can see the Andromeda galaxy with a naked eye, even with some level of light pollution. So if the star you are asking about would be even closer to Andromeda, you would see at least that galaxy. ...
- 136
6
votes
Accepted
In what parts of the world is it impossible to view the night sky due to light pollution?
There's a recent study on this, based on satellite and ground observations around the world.
According to the paper:
The Milky Way is hidden from more than one-third of humanity, including 60% of ...
- 1,261
6
votes
In what parts of the world is it impossible to view the night sky due to light pollution?
Googling for 'light pollution map' gives a pretty good looking result. Those things usually are created using satellite measurments that are susceptible to scattered light (by measuring the polarity ...
- 9,366
6
votes
How does the illumination of the sky from the sun compare to that of the moon?
As you probably know, the moon only shines by reflected sunlight and has a very low albedo. Its light is therefore only a tiny fraction of the light of the sun Even the light of the full moon varies, ...
- 1,335
6
votes
Why is Starlink polluting the night sky a big concern if we have space telescopes?
Space telescope Astronomy research published in Science and Nature:
Ground-based telescopes (31.1%), spacecrafts (27.0%), space telescopes (22.8%). (ref)
Number of professional telescopes affected: &...
- 4,098
5
votes
My local night sky is so bright that I can only see the Moon, so would a low-cost telescope be any use?
There is hope!
You may be able to see some stars through a telescope even though you can't see them with your eye.
For extended objects like sky brightness, nebulae, and the Moon and resolved planets, ...
- 31.1k
5
votes
How high does light pollution reach into the sky?
Light pollution occurs because light from the ground refects off atoms in the atmosphere. So you can reduce light pollution either by getting away from light, or getting above the atmosphere. 50% of ...
- 103k
5
votes
My local night sky is so bright that I can only see the Moon, so would a low-cost telescope be any use?
While light pollution certainly makes things more challenging, there are a number of objects that tend to compete with light pollution well-enough to be enjoyed.
I have done astronomy outreach events ...
- 1,531
5
votes
Looking for methods to preserve night vision
Your problems with shielding your eyes from light probably come because it is easy to shield them from direct light from the car lights, but hard to shield them from reflected car light coming from ...
- 6,572
5
votes
Telescope on drones to escape light pollution?
"Above the light pollution" is really high and the stratosphere is a good starting point, because most of the atmospheric light scattering happens in the troposphere. Quite a few technical ...
- 2,736
4
votes
Accepted
Do Noctilucent clouds cause problems with telescopes?
Noctilucent clouds are not a problem for space telescopes because their orbits are always more than 85 km. The Hubble Telescope orbits at about 570 km. Noctilucent clouds are a problem for ground-...
- 2,937
4
votes
How will "modern equipment" allow the Royal Observatory to now avoid some of the effects of light pollution at Greenwich?
It's a little hard to guess what research can be done there -- Today, Greenwich is close to the worst place on Earth to have an observatory: At sea level, in the light dome of one of the largest ...
- 7,450
4
votes
Is sky-glow affected by height?
Sky-glow is a generic term for the diffuse light not due to the sun, moon or stars (or aurorae, I suppose). Much of it is light pollution from the ground, some is the zodiacal light from dust in space,...
- 11.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Limiting magnitudes for different telescopes
Your calculated estimate may be about correct for the limiting magnitude of stars, but lots of what you might want to see through a telescope consists of extended objects-- galaxies, nebulae, and ...
- 3,225
3
votes
Is it possible to view the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye in Greece?
Assuming you mean Bortle class 4, then the Andromeda galaxy (M31) should be a fairly easy object with the naked eye. It won’t be particularly impressive, but rather will look like a hazy blob. On the ...
- 4,124
3
votes
Light pollution and apparent magnitude of objects in solar system
The answer is yes: dust is highly constrained to the ecliptic plane and so viewing from above the plane would result in less light that needs to be subtracted from observations of the solar corona. ...
- 2,937
3
votes
Accepted
In an area with lots of light pollution, which clear sky clock parameter is most important?
I would agree that transparency is the more important item, but it does depend on what you are observing. Deep sky objects such as clusters, nebulae, and galaxies will benefit from the darker skies by ...
- 7,391
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible