Read that light pollution maps are getting worse every year and it made me rethink my whole setup

I was scrolling through some astronomy forum and saw a post where someone was complaining that even their Bortle 4 spot is slipping. That hit different cause I remember when I could see the Milky Way from my driveway 10 years ago. Now I gotta drive 45 minutes to get a decent view. Makes me wonder if buying that fancy new telescope was even worth it when the sky keeps getting brighter. Has anyone else given up on backyard viewing and just decided to travel for dark skies instead?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.susan21d ago

Did you check if your local astronomy club has a dark site lease?

blairj5521d ago

lol yeah @ellis.susan I feel that, my club has a lease but the waiting list is longer than my AP rig's focal length. I go out there maybe twice a year and spend the whole time fighting dew and tweaking my mount. My driveway is basically a Bortle 8 now and I'm just like "cool, I can see Jupiter's moons through a streetlight.