Darken My Skies ... you do NOT need those streetlights !

[Black]

DeusxMac wrote:
[quote=Paul F.]
They seem to be assuming that the only reason for street lights is vehicular traffic... Ever gone walking at night in an area without street lights?

:agree:

:agree::agree::agree:
When the lights are out in my area it's a crisis, and has nothing to do with automotive traffic.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

cbelt3 wrote:
[quote=Paul F.]
They seem to be assuming that the only reason for street lights is vehicular traffic... Ever gone walking at night in an area without street lights?

Yes. I have good night vision.
As do I. (I actually have a good story about that, but it'll keep for another time.)

Others may not, however.

As has already been pointed out, the most important reason for street lighting is crime deterrance.

[Article Accelerator]

Speedy wrote: The best view I ever had of the Milky Way was in South Dakota in the middle of a very crisp winter night with no snow on the ground at an unlighted exit (Exit 110 on I-90) while kicking the tires on my rig. I had never seen such an unobstructed view of the galaxy before and I have looked many, many times!

And, as amazing as that view no doubt was, all you saw was contained within this red dot, representing a tiny piece of our galaxy:

Where Are All The Aliens?

[DP]

I was just outside Milwaukee this past weekend and I was able to see the MW in the subdivision I was staying in.

It drops low in the sky in Spring and early Summer. It's showing up more now:

[OWC Jamie]

DP wrote:
I was just outside Milwaukee this past weekend and I was able to see the MW in the subdivision I was staying in.

It drops low in the sky in Spring and early Summer. It's showing up more now:

I remember as a kid looking up at the sky in the back yard and seeing that. With whippoorwills's endless chanting in the very short distance on a warm Summer Eve.
Now one only hears commerce and on a clear quiet night one can gleefully make out the moon.

[DP]

BTW, this is overhead with South at the bottom. The three circled stars comprise the Summer Triangle. The left star is Deneb in Cygnus, the right one is Vega in Lyra, and the lower star is Altair in Aquila.




It is amazing that the ancients could even discern the brighter stars as they get lost in all the other brightness. They do show up in urban areas indicating that they are more "powerful" and are able to pierce the gloom and glow. Perhaps thats how they were first perceived from areas where there was enough light pollution to discern the brighter stars.

[$tevie]

If they turn off the street lights in Baltimore city, I am going to have to move out.

[Uncle Wig]

Kraniac wrote:
The other problem with the implementation of street lights in cities is that your eye 'sees' the light source..the bulb..which distracts the brain, causes the pupil to close down and makes seeing a challenge..which is important when it comes to id'ing bad guys etc..

This! The city put LEDs in the tall lamp poles in my neighborhood and they are awful. It's that hard, cold bluish light. The lights themselves are in your eyes, and there is a distinct dark zone between the light poles. So they've really made it HARDER to see. Terrible.

[OWC Jamie]

Hmmm. Piss yellow or clear blue: