Re: Atlas of Light Pollution vs. Experience

tony_flanders_at_yahoo.com
Date: 03/30/05 

Date: 29 Mar 2005 18:51:18 -0800

Florian wrote:

> I know the gegenschein is basically opposite the sun but is there a
good site or method
> to show where the gegenschein is on any particular night?

Sure. The Gegenschein is *precisely* opposite the Sun, and since the
Sun is now at
RA 0:35, Dec. 4N, the Gegenschein is centered at RA 12:35, Dec. 4S.
That happens to be
almost on top of Jupiter (in other words, Jupiter is almost at
opposition). My guess
is that Jupiter's bright enough to blot out the Gegenschein, unless you
can rig up
some way to block it.

Look for a large region of the sky that's brighter than it ought to be.
It doesn't
have anything remotely resembling a sharp edge, so it's very hard to
perceive it
as an entity in its own right. But it's actually respectably bright --
probably
brighter than the faint part of the Milky Way between Orion and Gemini.

    - Tony Flanders