Drove out to the Joshua Tree dark sky zone and the Milky Way was just a faint smudge

I mean, I was so pumped to finally get some good shots with my new camera, a Canon R7. But the light pollution from Palm Springs was way worse than the map said, even from 30 miles out. It totally washed out the core, and I barely got any detail after stacking. Has anyone else had better luck with a specific spot out there that's actually dark?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_river2mo ago

I used to think those maps were totally reliable, but that "washed out the core" thing happened to me too.

mark_nguyen9529d ago

Nah I gotta disagree here. The Light Pollution Science website map has been spot on for me every time, even showed the exact gradient where the milky way starts washing out at my local spot. Maybe you just got unlucky with a weird weather night.

paige_harris2mo ago

Yeah, @the_river, I had to go way past the park boundary to get a truly dark spot.