Asa Dotzler: Firefox and more

One thing I really miss about my hometown is being able to sit outside at night in the summer and watch the stars. I never really knew what light pollution was until I moved to a city to go to university... Its amazing the simple little things we can take for granted.

Go and have a drive around the 'glass house' area in Holland. Particular with low clouds, with the reflection, you almost think its dawn......people in vicinity require heavy drapes to sleep.....fortunately, some cities take measures and use street light caps that don't allow waste light to go up.....some farmer use blinds they lower during night time (not for environmental reasons), gives better light production, reducing energy consumption.

I was just in the Nebraska sandhills this weekend for a photography workshop. Attended a very nice lecture and demonstration on astro-photography, but the demo was a bust as the skies were cloudy that night. I actually line in Eastern Nebraska, which is good for not much light pollution, but the sandhills never cease to amaze me at night.

But I am getting to a point here. There is a large star party held in Nebraska every year. I have not attended, but others may want to. http://www.nebraskastarparty.org

I remember years ago really seeing stars for the first time at night. I was lying on my back on a turkish beach several kilometers from the nearest (small) town far away from any light pollution. At first the sky seemed 'normal' but then, one after the other stars became visible as my eyes got used to the poor light conditions. I had simply never seen that many stars.

My home country (the Netherlands) is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Basically, the night sky is orange here, not the deep black it is supposed to be. Not only is there light pollution, but also sound pollution. I remember reading about some guy trying to find the quietest place in the Netherlands using a decibel meter. Apparently he found some spot where background noise was indeed minimal (somewhere near Utrecht I think). However, it could still be detected! There's literally no place in the Netherlands where you can totally escape from traffic noise.

Growing up on a farm in Ohio with few neighbors, we had amazing views of the sky. City life has many advantages, but seeing the stars is not one of them!

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