#Orientation May 2

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For the month of May 2024 several of us are taking on the 30-Day Astronomy Coach4aday Challenge. The simple concept is to learn something about the cosmos each day. For May 2nd it is a brief ORIENTATION on some Astronomy observation fundamentals.

Today’s post is going to talk about how to measure the darkness of the sky along with the importance of compass settings.

Astronomy Challenge Suggested Guidelines

Like previous challenges there are no hard and fast rules to participate. There are a few suggested guidelines.

1. Each day in May learn something new about our universe either by reading or observation.
2. Share that knowledge with others
3. If so inclined use the hash tag #Coach4adayChallenge on social media platforms

Day 2-Bortle Scale

Here are few orientation tips to get you started with the basics of astronomy.

1. You can observe stars and planets from just about anywhere but the darkness of your location matters. It helps if you pick a spot.
2. Once you have your location become oriented with the compass directions of East-West-North and South
3. Load a great smartphone stargazing app on your phone.

Determining Darkness

Every location can be assigned a Bortle Classification. The Bortle scale, devised by amateur astronomer John E. Bortle, quantifies the darkness of a sky. Ranging from Class 1, representing the darkest skies on Earth, to Class 9, indicative of inner-city conditions, it gauges the visibility of celestial objects. Even in Class 9 areas, some celestial phenomena can still be observed despite the increased light pollution.

You can learn a lot by going to this website called Clear Outside– I learned that Lumberton NC is a Class 6

Smartphone Apps

Having a stargazing app on your smartphone can help you identify what is over your location.

Here is a link to a review of some of the best ones by Space.com

I choose to download Night Sky 11