I've lived in LA my entire life and just recently I found out that some of the lights I see in the sky are actual stars...

I've lived in LA my entire life and just recently I found out that some of the lights I see in the sky are actual stars. I thought they were just planes for my whole life until I decided to keep an eye on them and realized they weren't moving and stayed in the same spot each night. I didn't think they were stars because the sky here looks nothing like the pictures of skies you see online with a ton of bright stars. I guess that's because there's so much light and pollution or something blocking the sky so it doesn't look as pure as it would in a rural place. I feel like I missed out on something nice. I'm watching videos on stargazing now and none of that would even be possible where I live. I mean they are so subtle that I barely managed to notice them now. Anyway I'm trying to figure out what stars I can see exactly. Online it says the brightest one is Sirius and I think I have that one spotted along with one other one in the constellation with it. What do you think?

Other urls found in this thread:

lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=8&lat=4011442&lon=-13136187&layers=B0TFFFFF
neave.com/planetarium/
astrobytes.net/allsky_full.html
fourmilab.ch/yoursky/
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

Did I post this on the wrong board? We can turn this into a star thread if you want.

lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=8&lat=4011442&lon=-13136187&layers=B0TFFFFF

neave.com/planetarium/
use this ^
set your location and get a compass [or use google earth]

it's probably Jupiter you're seeing.

interesting links thanks

If you're in a red zone, go to an orange one.
Orange to yellow, to green, to blue to no color at all.
Cedar Springs looks like a nice place, but it's nearly 50 km from downtown LA.

Shame even the famous Wilson Observatory is in a yellow to green zone.

which color would I need to go to to see something like this?

wait we can see the planets too? how do I know if it's Jupiter or a star?

I think you can only really get that on pictures with long exposure.

oh. can you post an example of what the best sky is you can see in real life?

Download and install Stellarium. It should find your location automatically. Then just look around there, click on any star/planet that you see at night to find out its name, etc.

planets tend to flicker more than stars
also they move over time so you'll notice them in different parts of the sky relative to constellations as the week progresses

or month i should say

Oh, and if you have an Android phone, install F-Droid and Sky Map app from there. You can literally just point your phone at the stars you're seeing to find their names. I don't have an iPhone but it probably has a similar app too.

excuse me, got it mixed up.
STARS flicker more than planets

Here is a view from nearby, with a fish eye lens.
The brightest one is Jupiter and it appears to be in the constellation Virgo, near the star, Spica.
astrobytes.net/allsky_full.html

thanks, I installed sky map and I'll check it out tomorrow
thanks as well.

OP drive to the top of stunt road or piuma (stunt is off of mulholland)
stop being such a faggot.

and both are off of las virgines (aka malibu canyon road)

basically this. Right side is at first, Left side is once your eyes adjust a bit. (and this is really kinda like..how many stars you'd see in the whole sky, not just anywhere you look.

Honestly OP sounds like you have overly high expectations. Do and and bring a DSLR, take some long exposure, then you'll have proof the sky you're imagining does exist (you just can't see it).

apparently I'm retarded, switch left and right

In June and July, the core of the Milky Way is best visible.

k

I think that's understating how much you can see with the naked eye. I'm in a dark blue area on that map
and the sky looks about like this on a dark clear night.

You should be able to see a few stars, Jupiter and Venus. You can tell the planets because they wander against the background of fixed stars slowly from night to night -- but of course you can't see much of the background of fixed stars, so that's little help to you.

If you are interested, there are several "night sky from your location" as out there -- get one and check it against the stars/planets you are seeing.

I'd call that a only-slightly overstated view of the night sky in a dark region. Probably has slightly too many stars, but lacks the milky way which is usually visible.

Related note -- the full moon is a pretty effective washer-out of the night sky; if you travel somewhere to see a good night sky, travel near the new moon, not the full.

bullfucking shit. Your eyes cannot see that well.

Lyrid meteors tonight, by the way

In a truly dark sky, you get pretty close -- there is more variety in brightness than this image implies, though.

one time I was hanging out with a 20yo female friend of mine, we did some acid at night. she'd never done it before.

partway through the night when we were stargazing, I was explaining to her how to find the north star and it's fixed point in the sky by showing her that ursa major had shifted it's position over the course of a few hours. shook her worldview. she didn't know stars moved.

I disagree, on a good night the entire sky is covered in visible stars once your eyes adjust. According to Google there should be about 4500 visible in ideal conditions.

You've probably never been /out/ in a place that's dark enough. Your eyes can absolutely see that well in the right conditions. Go camping out in the New Mexico desert, clear skies, 7,000 feet of elevation and no population centers of note within a hundred miles. God Tier view of the stars.

If you're farther south in the Orange county area. Circled area on the map is pretty good. At the top of Ortega Highway there's a paved road that goes north to a campground/day use area. It's about the best you can get in the area. Friends and I used to go out there all the time. You still get a tiny bit of city glow peaking over the mountains but it's the best we could find without driving for a couple hours.

MOVE OUT OF LA. MOVE OUT OF LA.

It's a shithole that's a ticking time bomb of debt-induced collapse. What's going to happen is that the "Big One" strikes and shady home building practices become revealed all across. Along with the destruction of them and other homes.

Nobody will have money saved up for something like this. The aftermath will turn LA into a 2nd Detroit for at least a few months. I have some optimism that wealthy men can "hurry" the arrival of emergency supplies and services.

And there's an unappreciated cognitive tax to being stuck in the shitty traffic. The only good thing about LA is the fucking whores. If you need a good blowjob, contact the Stephanie who's like 34-37.

I'd strongly recommend Google Sky Map for mobile phones. It requires your device have an internal compass (or I think GPS works as well)

You can simply point our phone / camera at the object you're seeing and it help you identify it.

>it's probably Jupiter you're seeing.
Various planets often stand out more than stars.

Eagle Scout here,

Seconding the notion of camping In New Mexico. Philomont Scout Ranch had more stars visible than I could previously imagine with a clear view of the milky way arm and everything.

no way.

ive once driven through the desert at night and i was blown away by how many stars i could see

a lot like this, you could even see the blue stars and red stars.

na dude go on a road trip through the desert

Also an Eagle scout, I've heard good things about the sky at Philmont but the place I was thinking of was actually Double H. It was camp run by Philmont staff in a different more deserty part of New Mexico (Directly across the street from the VLA). When I went we had clearer skies the whole week. God-tier observation. I would have killed for a telescope.

also
fourmilab.ch/yoursky/

From top to bottom (apparent luminosity magnitude) the brightest visible stars