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02/16/2014 10:54:01 PM · #1 |
| Since I live in Japan, light pollution is EVERYWHERE. I'm wondering how far away from the big cities I should be so that the pollution doesn't affect the images? I have a friend driving me but I doubt we'll go hours and hours away. So...how far is far enough? |
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02/16/2014 10:57:39 PM · #2 |
| I think it depends a lot on terrain ΓΆ€” whether there are hills/mountains between you and the light source. I'm guessing you need to be at least twenty miles from any city, and maybe up to forty if the land is flat. The light pollution will also be worse if there is any fog or smog in the air ... |
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02/16/2014 11:28:09 PM · #3 |
| I'm only about 40 miles from Manhattan, and it's pretty darn dark here on a clear night (my town has no retail and few streetlights). Use this map to find a dark spot near you. |
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02/17/2014 12:47:52 AM · #4 |
Well, this is not going to help you in Japan, but for North America the Clear Dark Sky website gives quite detailed information for the next 48 hours.
The website looks circa 1995, but the information is quite good and contains charts with things like cloud cover, darkness, humidity and other details that can affect star gazing. |
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02/17/2014 01:04:56 AM · #5 |
The website I like is Dark skies which has a map at least for the US but also describes the Bortle scale and what you can expect to see for each level of darkness.
Darn, I can't find the link right now. It has a Google earth map with a bortle scale layer imposed over it.
I did see on a very rough picture of Japan that you are going to have a tough time getting to dark skies. You want to be at least "blue" and it seems like you have to get to the coast for that. I didn't see any chunks of level 2 or 1.
Message edited by author 2014-02-17 01:11:13. |
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02/17/2014 01:48:11 AM · #6 |
//www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/
I have to be about 50 miles away from the front range. And, even then, I must look to the north and west into Wyoming to see a pretty good dark sky. |
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02/17/2014 02:18:36 AM · #7 |
| That was the site I was thinking about. |
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02/17/2014 02:52:46 AM · #8 |
| Beside being far from towns you should find a 'sheltered' place, especially in Japan. A friend of mine climbed reaching the top of our highest mountain (of course far from big towns) only to realize that light pollution on the top was much worse. |
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