Topic

Light pollution

What the sky glow above your town costs you, in Bortle class and in stars: the satellite atlas, the limiting magnitude, and where the night is still dark.

The Milky Way From Western Europe: 12 Degrees Up, and One Hour to See It

Mid-August is the best stretch of the year for the core of our galaxy. It is also the moment to say what nobody says: from Paris it culminates at 12.2 degrees, and it culminates in full twilight. Here is the real window, latitude by latitude, and what the thickness of air takes from you on the way.

La Voie lactée dressée au-dessus de l'horizon désertique de la Vallée de la Mort, dans l'un des ciels les plus noirs du sud-ouest américain.

The Bortle Scale: How Many Stars Does Your Sky Actually Let You See?

Between central Paris and the Millevaches plateau there is not «a few more stars». There is a factor of thirty. Here is what the satellite atlas built into SkyChart computes for twenty real locations, and what it cannot tell you.