From what place on Earth is the starry sky best visible?
(ORDO NEWS) — If you live in a big city and decide to go outside to look at the starry sky, the maximum that you will see is a couple of blurry dots. In general, no romance. So, if you really want to enjoy the scattering of lights and make a wish under a shooting star, you need to get out of the city. Ideal if your chosen location will not have brightly lit buildings, factories and highways, and the weather will be cloudless.
Finding such a place and conditions is, of course, very difficult. But did you know that there are several places on our planet where you can enjoy the starry sky in any weather, and for several hours in a row? Most of them are located on high mountains formed along the equator. Scientists have recently discovered another place that all romance lovers would probably like to go to.
Coldest place on earth
The place where the starry sky is best seen was described in the scientific publication ScienceAlert. As part of the research work, scientists from China, Australia and Britain studied the clarity of the sky over Antarctica. The highest ice dome on the Antarctic plateau, referred to as Dome A, has drawn particular attention of researchers. This is one of the most remote and coldest places on our planet, so if someone manages to find himself there, he will get two impressions. First of all, he will be delighted with the starry sky that appears in front of him, and then he will be horrified by the fact that his limbs will begin to freeze.
The conditions at Dome A are really extreme. It is located 1200 kilometers from the ocean, so star lovers will have to walk first. The height of this elevation is 4 kilometers – to climb up, you need to make even more efforts and demonstrate all your endurance. And after reaching the top, you need to somehow warm up. Believe me, you have hardly ever experienced such a cold, because the air temperature on dome A reaches -90 degrees Celsius.
Where to watch the starry sky?
The good view of the stars from Dome A is explained by several factors at once. First, it is located almost in the middle of the Antarctic plateau. Due to the strong remoteness from any kind of buildings and equipment, there is no light pollution in this region. Secondly, at such a height there is no dust and gases, because of which it always seems to us that the stars are twinkling – not all people are able to see such a clear starry sky. Thirdly, some sources claim that even satellites in orbit do not interfere with the view at this point of the planet.
Scientists believe that this site is one of the best places to build telescopes. And the telescope is already there – it’s called PLATO. Thanks to the clear sky, scientists are able to discover a huge variety of new space objects that are not visible to other observatories. Of course, its capabilities cannot match the power of the Hubble Space Telescope. But even he will very soon retire – to replace this old man will come the new “James Webb” – its launch was recently postponed to 2021. It remains to be hoped that the plans of the space agency NASA will not interfere with anything, because the postponements of the launch date can no longer be counted.
In fact, telescopes are not built on the surface of our planet anyhow. Before construction, researchers carefully select a site to start assembling the observatory. They just need places with the clearest skies – such regions have been found in the South American country of Chile and the American state of Hawaii. However, structures for tracking celestial objects are being built in cities where the sky cannot be called perfectly clear.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.
