What Orion Looks Like from My Backyard
Last night, I went out in my backyard to take my estimate of the light pollution present. My backyard is a terrible place for an astronomer, I have three very bright streetlights flooding my backyard with photons. So many in fact that they actually cast a shadow, and I don’t need a flashlight to see things.
I almost never observe with my telescope in my backyard. Anything involving my telescopes must be done in my driveway where I have a least SOME protection for the surrounding lights (but as I’ve written before, that’s also problematic), or I get in the car and drive 30 minutes away to get some decent dark skies.
Anyway, here’s what Orion looks like from my backyard:
Image Credit: Globe at Night
This is the magnitude 3 chart, meaning that the dimmest star I can see from my backyard is magnitude 3, that’s bad folks, in fact, that’s embarrassing.
The cool thing about the Globe at Night initiative is that they’ve really designed this to be as easy as possible to estimate for yourself. This entire activity, including reporting my observation, took less than 15 minutes.
The hardest part is getting your latitude and longitude, one reason this didn’t take me long is that I already knew mine. To find yours, they include a link to maporama, again about 1 minute to do.
Please take the time to do this for your backyard, I believe by just participating, you’ll get a better appreciation for how the stars are disappearing before our eyes.
Technorati Tags: GLOBE at Night, light pollution
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7 opinions for What Orion Looks Like from My Backyard
Rúni Bang Larsen
Mar 8, 2007 at 11:30 am
Just checked out the site, and now i need to wait for some clear skies. Which according to the forecast, won’t be for at least a week, sigh.
But using my memory (which btw isn’t that good) i would guess the sky is the magnitude 4-5 chart.
But i’ll have to check it when it gets clear.
Frederica
Mar 8, 2007 at 3:40 pm
I got a chance to do it last night. I’m in a semi rural area, few street lights, bigger city nearby.
Magnitude 3 as well.
It did remind me of the night skies I enjoyed as a child. Filled with thousands of stars and the Milky Way was visible in all its splendor then. Now it feels like I was priviledged…
Dave
Mar 8, 2007 at 8:51 pm
My area is Mag 3 as well **sigh*** Streetlights everywhere and a huge shopping maul to the north.
Astronomy Buff - I Want a Sky Shed!
Apr 30, 2007 at 12:44 pm
[…] for me, I guess I’ll have to hold on to my $1,550 plus shipping since I can’t even use my backyard anyway. I have too many streetlights blazing into my backyard, I have to travel dozens of miles to get to […]
Astrolink [Global Edition] » I Want a Sky Shed! | Latest astronomy news in 11 languages
Apr 30, 2007 at 1:33 pm
[…] for me, I guess I’ll have to hold on to my $1,550 plus shipping since I can’t even use my backyard anyway. I have too many streetlights blazing into my backyard, I have to travel dozens of miles to get to […]
How to Choose Binoculars
May 23, 2007 at 5:24 pm
[…] For astronomy use, I recommend 7×50’s. The objectives are big enough to give a bright image and the magnification is enough to show you the craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, and the bands of Jupiter are sometimes visible if the sky is clear and dark (which it almost never is where I live, but you know how I feel about that). […]
Astrolink [Global Edition] » How to Choose Binoculars | Latest astronomy news in 11 languages
May 23, 2007 at 5:39 pm
[…] For astronomy use, I recommend 7×50’s. The objectives are big enough to give a bright image and the magnification is enough to show you the craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, and the bands of Jupiter are sometimes visible if the sky is clear and dark (which it almost never is where I live, but you know how I feel about that). […]
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