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Is darker always better for backyard viewing? I visited a spot with some light pollution and it surprised me.
I went to a park just outside town last weekend that has moderate glow from streetlights, and I could still see Jupiter's bands clearly through my 8-inch Dob. But a buddy swears by driving 2 hours to a Bortle 2 zone every time - which side is right? Should we all be chasing total darkness or can you get solid views from a semi-lit backyard?
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sean_walker451d ago
Yeah I remember reading somewhere that contrast on planets actually benefits from a slightly brighter background sky. Something about how your eye can pick up more detail when the target is well separated from the background... not sure if that's totally right but Jupiter's bands and Saturn's rings pop way more from my driveway than they ever did up in the mountains where the sky is pitch black. I still like going to dark sites for deep sky stuff, especially faint galaxies and nebulae with an OIII filter. But for planetary and lunar, I'd take a semi lit backyard over a two hour drive any night.
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amybarnes1d ago
That's actually a solid point about the sky being not totally black helping with planetary detail.
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