Posted on 12/27/2017 6:27:39 AM PST by C19fan
In the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho, 1,416 square miles (3,668 square kilometers) of land has been named the country's first International Dark Sky Reserve by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), the leading organization that fights against the light pollution that slowly swallows our view of the universe.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
I live in an eastern state and I get to see the Milky Way on a regular basis. It gets pretty dark in my part of Central Virginia.
It’s not like Idaho, mind you, but it’s not bad.
I live outside of Fredericksburg and had to sell my telescope due to the light pollution. When I first moved here I was able to see the Andromeda galaxy unaided, but now I can barely see the nebulas in Orion's belt.
With relatives and friends in Ketchum, we visit there regularly. The night sky on the Galena Summit is spectacular (halfway between Ketchum and Stanley).
Blaine County is the Democrat stronghold in Idaho, so the libs there are probably going to require everybody to put blackout shades on their house windows and drive at night without headlights.
As long as they drive their Volts and Smart Cars off of a cliff, I am good with that.
Looking up,this kid from the city couldn't *believe* how many stars there were in the sky.I had never even imagined it!
That’s too bad. I’m about 75 miles SW of Fredericksburg and there is no significant development near me.
I once took a canoe trip in Northern WI. The second night there was a perfectly clear night. I spent nearly the whole night looking at the sky...completely dumbfounded. I knew I'd never seen a real night sky but was amazed at how vast it truly was.
Blaine County? You’d think it would be around Boise where the Dems are....hhhmmmm
Boise comes in #2, I think. Blaine attracts all the BIG MONEY out of state libs. Seems like 3/4 of the homes are second (or third) homes for ultra rich libs from out-of-State. It must have rubbed off on the locals because Blaine always voted D.
LOL. Only problem with that is they would fill up all the nearby canyons.
Nah, still enough conservatives there to counter the libs. Blaine County has a low population (under 22,000). High concentration of libs. High cost of living, so the help has to commute in from outer areas.
I grew up in Virginia Beach. It was still quite rural when me family moved there - Independence Boulevard had just been paved a year or so before - but even then the night sky was nothing like it is where I live now.
Good point! LOL
You have to go a lot farther than 75 miles from development to get a very pristine sky. And if you have never been somewhere with a truly pristine sky you are missing a great experience.
What really sets me off is the morons who go by the biggest floodlight they can find, point it at oncoming traffic,turn it on and go to bed every night with it on.
We saw it in upstate New York-—the Adirondacks.
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I did not say my night sky was pristine. I said it was good. If I can see the Milky Way, and there are far too many start visible to even begin counting them, then I consider the sky to be good.
The White Mountains can get pretty dark. I did some sleeping up high in the summer, and the skies were glorious.
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