Most city dwellers don't know how much of the night sky has already been stolen by billionaires, because poorly planned, wasteful city lights have already drowned out the stars for them.
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets oh that sounds just wonderful. My most memorable night sky experience was lying on a grass lawn at a Medieval reenactment event, listening to a bard perform Chaucer, when a huge green fireball of a meteor shot across the sky overhead. It was a perfect moment. It just occurred to me that I was slightly and serendipitously buzzed on fireball whisky at the time.
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets Camping in Forillon National Park (Quebec, across from Gaspe). The night sky was a carpet of stars. The Milky Way... I had no idea.
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets Kaikoura, New Zealand, and NZ in general.
The milky way is bright as hell down here and there are tons of great and rare (to me) constellations. Why Kaikoura? The surrounding alpine mountains do a great job at blocking out light pollution AND Kaikoura is pretty small, so there isn't that much pollution to begin with.
Also, the next morning you can go and get some top tier fish and chips in town and eat them down on the black sand beach where you can see baby seals at play, so you honestly can't beat that.
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets I grew up in New York City in the ‘60s/‘70s where there’s way too much light to see the sky, but my family had a summer house in upstate New York in the country. I’d lay out on the grass at night and let my eyes adapt to the total darkness and it was just magical.
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Oh I should add to my own personal list: the multiple aurora shows over the past couple of years that I've been able to see from my own house! May 2024 and especially November 2025 were completely mind-blowing.
I found myself joyously whooping and yelling at the sky. I kept thinking of the Cree name for a really active aurora show, cı̂payak kâ-nı̂mihitocik, which translates to "the ancestors are dancing". It was truly an emotionally powerful event to bear witness to.
Your photos blew *our* minds, and we weren't even there. The actual experience must have been incredible 🤯
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@sundogplanets We used to live in SW Colorado at 7200 feet altitude. The night skies were incredible. You could read by the full moon and it felt like you could touch the stars, they seemed so close.
@MFennVT I remember this from camping
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets West Texas, Big Bend National Park.
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets
We were once in Banff for a full moon (totally by accident) and clear skies. The full moon lighting up the Rockies was pretty amazing.2nd place: the Dominion Radio Observatory near Penticton hosts a Perseids Meteor Shower event every year, where I shot the below photo.
3rd place: up on top of mount Lolo at the old NORAD radar site during a particularly active aurora borealis. (No photos, just memories)
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The world would be a much better place if everyone had easy access to infinity's doorstep, to realize how small we are, how unique and fragile our pale blue dot is.
You don't need a trip on a billionaire's rocket to get the "overview effect." You can do it by finding dark sky access, which is becoming harder and harder to get, partially due to billionaires' rockets.
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social I love the starry night sky so much. I'd love to live further away from the light pollution.
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Oh I should add to my own personal list: the multiple aurora shows over the past couple of years that I've been able to see from my own house! May 2024 and especially November 2025 were completely mind-blowing.
I found myself joyously whooping and yelling at the sky. I kept thinking of the Cree name for a really active aurora show, cı̂payak kâ-nı̂mihitocik, which translates to "the ancestors are dancing". It was truly an emotionally powerful event to bear witness to.
@sundogplanets
The combination of such vibrant movement, and yet silence. It's so powerful. It's makes you feel so small on this planet and I love that feeling. -
Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
Seeing the Emu across the Milky Way in the bush in Western Australia.
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@sundogplanets I grew up in the 60s/70s on a farm in southern Manitoba. I just thought seeing stars at night was a normal thing that I’d have for the rest of my life. I do remember when I was around 5 my mom was taking care of my city cousins and she stopped the car on the way back to the farm so they could see the stars. Jesus, I thought, what’s the big deal! Thanks for asking, I had not thought of that in ages.
@KarenKeiller @sundogplanets Ditto! For 2 weeks every summer, parents would rent the Scout cabin at Delta Beach. Running through the fish flies to use the outdoor biffy was a treat. But no street lighting for miles. Every night was a free sky show. The whole damn family was on the beach to try to see Sputnik in the ‘50s. Now I must drive to the community pasture to get an approximation of a dark sky. Amazing how far the glow firm Winnipeg can be seen.
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets
South Pacific, a hundred nautical miles from anythingWe had a good viewing night in the Grand Canyon with a few good telescopes
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
North shore of Jamaica after a huge storm that had cleared the sky and knocked out all the power in sight.
Unbelievable Milky Way and night birds
until a resort got their generator going and turned up the speakers, anyway -
Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets Prince Edward Island with three college friends. Lying with heads together watching the Perseids meteor shower. “There’s one, there’s one, ….” And, at one point, all four of us together, “There’s one!”
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
Outback Australian skies are always amazing.
One trip, a mate's young son (under 5)was terrified—we didn't live in the city and he'd seen stars, but never *SO MANY*!
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets Toronto, August 14, 2003: first night of the blackout. Complete darkness and sparkling night sky
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
Seeing the auroras down here was amazing. I will always wonder what our ancestors thought when they saw it.
Also, the night sky down at the beach - you can see the Milky Way. For years I didn't even realize what I was seeing, I kept thinking it was really high wispy clouds, LOL. A very WHOA moment when I realized it.
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
Northwestern Nebraska (Sand Hills country) in the mid-90s for one of the first annual Nebraska Star Party outings. Skies so dark you had a hard time identifying the traditional constellations, and the Milky Way was so bright it cast shadows.
I got some estimates of the brightness of the faintest stars I could see there, and the site handily beat some other outstandingly dark skies I’d been to before, even including a location at the edge of the Atacama Desert I went to for a total solar eclipse the year before.
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Where is the best, most incredible, most perspective-shattering night sky that you've ever seen?
For me, it was the Tekapo dark sky reserve in New Zealand a few months ago (I got up at 1am both nights I was there specifically so I could get some mostly satellite-free skies to enjoy).
Second place: Mojave desert many years ago (before megaconstellations) or winter skies about an hour outside Regina, when the nights are long and there are no sunlit satellites due to geometry.
@sundogplanets Dolly Sods, WV. Hard to get a clear night sky sometimes in Appalachia, but this one is well worth it. Occasional viewing of the northern lights from there, too.
