Stars are disappearing faster than ever

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https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/stars-d ... -1.6259700

I’m in the 30% of humans that cannot see the Milky Way galaxy. In fact, I’ve never seen it. I had to have been in my young to mid thirties before I’d seen a good clear photo and learned that it’s Supposed to be visible by the naked eye at night wherever it is in the sky at whatever time of year. ??

There are some dark areas around, and I’ve been to a few of them and have seen stars and meteor showers before - but never the Milky Way. There’s also a “Dark Sky Preserve,” park about the same distance from home as the beach I go to regularly. Maybe I’ll go there some clear Summer night to see if it has better views than the beach. https://spacetourismguide.com/stargazing-in-vancouver/

Ever seen the Milky Way? Just a common regular nightly sight for you where you live so never thought about the fact that others can’t see it? Now I’m curious about that.

Yeah.



But seriously, I was in the astronomy club in high school, granted I went there because people I knew went there, along with my crush at the time. I did telescope snaps of Saturn's rings, and processed image stacks for clarity. But no, never seen Milky Way as a thing.

Stars disappearing? Lion King fell out of favor. Disney ain't what it used to be.

We don't have that chocolate bar in Canada.. well, not exactly.

"Milky Way is a brand of chocolate-covered confectionery bar manufactured and marketed by Mars, Incorporated. There are two varieties: the US Milky Way bar, which is sold as the Mars bar worldwide, including Canada; and the global Milky Way bar, which is sold as the 3 Musketeers in the US and Canada. (In Canada neither bar is sold as Milky Way.)"



I've seen some pretty spectacular photos of the Milky Way online in the last few years and wonder if they're photoshopped/enhanced or if people can Actually see it like that from the ground with the naked eye. Probably taken in the middle of Australia or something where there's no city lights for forever and a day.

Where I was living when I was growing up, I could see it every, cloudless night. I can’t see it where I currently live.

You definitely see more stars in the night sky in the West Virginia Mountains than you see here in the suburbs of Washington DC. The mountains of Colorado are good too. Sorta vaguely remember seeing the MW as a child, but Im not sure. Havent seen it recently.

But Ive only traveled to places like South Florida recently...which has even worse sky glow than DC. The night Sky always has a milky glow over the suburbs of Lauderdale, even in the wee hours of the morning. Can hardly see any stars.

At least I’ve been down at the beach in the dark many times where there’s very little light pollution thanks to the cliff face & forest shielding us from the university campus lights above and I’ve been able to see more stars, constellations, and planets - Mars & Venus have been pointed out to me several times. Heck, sometimes they’re visible during the day.

Luckily a lot of beach hippies are astronomy nerds and will happily point out things in the sky.

I think I've seen it? I honestly don't know for sure though as I never really about it. I just thought about light pollution and how in some places the sky is more visible, but never thought about it in context of being able to see the milky way or not.

I've had family in remote places over the years, so there's a good chance I saw it when visiting them. I also do dispersed camping in remote parts of national forests, so there's a good chance it's visible when I'm out in those places...though tree coverage can make star gazing a challenge, depending on where I set up camp. There is one spot I frequent that has a good sky view. Hopefully I'll remember to keep this in mind when I can get out there again.

Yeah I live in South Florida and have lived here all my life and I can honestly say it's gotten worse here with being unable to see stars.

I used to at least be able to see a few constellations when I'd go out at night but nowadays? Yeah I can basically see the moon and that's it.

Yeah, south Florida is so flat. Even Eastern Maryland has SOME altitude. And youre in the tropics so you have more absolute humidity. So you have more of both air and water hanging above you than you do here in Rockville Maryland, and maybe that shuts out more starlight. And thats before civilization starts to encroach with city lights.