Click The Pic
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 ...
Do you have a dark spot on your past?
Bring it to my man. He’ll fix it fast.
I thought the darkest place on earth was a liberal’s heart.
Two days without direct sunshine drives me crazy.
Darkest Spots on Earth
Harry Reid’s soul
Sometimes a nap meant you missed seeing the sun. It was light out for many hours, but direct sunlight was that limited.
250+ cloudy days per year in western NY was one reason we left.
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.
I spent some time out in the middle of the Arabian peninsula. The stars were amazing. Hope you get Atacama.
Pretty dark where the liberals have their heads.
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.
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.
Yellowstone had more stars than I ever saw in my life!
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.
Sign in, stranger.
“There’s virtually no light below an ocean depth of about 1,000 feet.”
There is no light in caves, no ‘virtually’ about it.
What’s surprising to most people is that the “millions of stars” on the darkest night is actually...
3000.
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.
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.
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