The Queensland town of Winton has been certified as an International Dark Sky Community.
The town has committed to managing its light pollution and installed warm bulbs in its streetlights.
Winton Shire Council and tourism operators believe the certification will attract stargazers wanting to experience the natural night sky.
Exactly, I saw the actual night sky once in my life when traveling and it was breathtaking, I cannot believe how people don’t even know what we’ve given up. I also thought those nat geo / Nasa pictures were computer generated recreations, but you can actually see that with your naked eyes
I was born in the wilderness of Nordic Lappland, no cities at all anywhere near, small villages only, spread very sparsely across a lot of nothingness.
No light pollution at all. Our village didn’t even have street lights anywhere outside the local school vicinity (we never had more than 20 or so students in total, across all the elementary grades through pre to 1-6!). 300 residents total. Closest proper town was roughly 200km away.
Yet, I have never seen the Milky Way. I’ve seen plenty of stars, there’s always stars unless extremely cloudy. And we’d get auroras almost bi-daily throughout the polar winters. But no Milky Way. No purple to speak of.
I wonder if this is tied to the location within earth? Always had a clear sky, no artificial lights polluting it even from afar. No cities, no smogs of any kind. But never did see purple or the Milky Way. In winters we also have literal months when the sun doesn’t even rise properly at all, just night all the time. So sky is very visible.
This is absolutely confusing to me, are you supposed to see the Milky Way with clear skies 😔?
I did a little look up for you because I am 100% certain it’s possible from my own experience and I wanted to know why you wouldn’t have. In Nordic countries it seems the bright part of the milky way does not really rise above the horizon, and only the edges might be visible. Humidity and altitude might also be a reason.
Be sure to check out: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/
You’re lucky to have seen the auroras though. I have never seen those.
I don’t know if I saw the milky way or any purple, I just saw the entire sky filled with stars for the first time