> > Ell"BOO to light pollution. And smog. And. And. And."myruh
>
> I totally agree. I grew up in a small town (2500 people) in a farming area, so there were no larger cities anywhere nearby, and if I took the short trip out to the lake (ten minutes by car, forty-five by bike) I could see SO many stars. Watching meteor showers out there was quite the experience. Now, in my city of 900,000 people, I hardly even know that there are even any stars up there. Last fall, my ex-girlfriend and a mutual friend and I went out from her place in the small city of Lethbridge, and had to drive almost an hour to find somewhere dark enough to try to shoot pictures of the stars from. Even then, I don't think I got any good shots on my camera, and we broke up before her film got developed, so I have no idea how she did with her longer exposure time. Seeing the Milky Way that night was spectacular, though, and made me homesick for the days when I could do that stuff whenever I wanted.
>
> Don "*sigh*" Monkey

Until I a.) took an interest in actually LOOKING at the stars and b.) went camping for the first time, I lived in large cities and populated areas where you can kinda see stars, but not many. The first time I ever went camping, to Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks, it was magical. I was astonished. I had no idea there were that many visible stars in the sky. It was as if there were more stars than clear sky up there. It was COOL. I spent most of my evenings there just looking up at the beauty of it. And now, everytime we go camping, even if it's just into the nearby mountains (you can still get some nice stargazing there, although it's not as spectacular as up in the high Sierras), I haul out a chair to a clearing and enjoy.

Sosi"wish I knew more than just the Big Dipper and Orion, though"qui