[ATMoB-discuss] Visible dust lanes in Milky Way?

[Bern Kosicki]

Paul,

What is your Dark Sky Meter?  Is it one you made yourself, or purchased?

Does the club have access to one of these also?

Bernie

At 01:16 AM 8/20/2006, valleli at rcn.com wrote:
>Jesse,
>Adding to what others have already commented on your Milky Way 
>observation, I was also stargazing from Meredith Neck, NH on Wed. night 
>and also noted an unusually clear night.
>The largest, darkest section in the region of Cygnus and east of Aquila is 
>unofficially known by galactic astronomers as "The Great Rift". George 
>Lucas must have picked up on this for Star Wars.
>I have been observing from this area for many years but get discouraged by 
>the light domes over the Weirs and Gunstock areas. They were there, but 
>not as bright as usual.
>Luckily I had my Dark Sky Meter with me and took some readings. Under 
>thick evergreens it was 23.00, the same as a photographic darkroom. Out on 
>the dock it was 21.46 away from the Milky Way, and 21.06 directly at it, 
>slightly to the East of the zenith.
>The best readings at Stellafane, VT have been numerous at around 22.45 and 
>about the same at the Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys.
>The units are a logarithmic scale in units of stellar magnitude per square 
>arc-second. They can be converted to Candelas using a light calculator on 
>the Dark Sky Meter web site. For comparison, a brightly lit parking lot 
>can be about 10.00 to 15.00.
>Paul
>
>
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