Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year

[helicon]

I'm a Lead Night Sky Ranger with The Last Green Valley (TLGV) in eastern Connecticut. We've been monitoring LP for 6 years now and we were steadily decreasing in dark skies until 2 years ago, when suddenly dark areas (Bortle 4) began to reemerge. We do a LOT of outreach to government and organizations and I've personally educated hundreds of people on light pollution problems concerning health of humans, animals, and plants. The most substantial reduction in LP, I think, was due to our state government requiring all new outdoor lights - including street lights - be fully shielded. The main reason TLGV exists is because we are the last dark skies area between Boston and Washington, DC along the coast. We are working hard to preserve it. I am VERY lucky that despite being only 1/4 mile from downtown Norwich (largest city in Eastern CT pop. 36,000) I have maintained Bortle 4.5 during the last 8 years. Downtown is Bortle 8. Education is the key to winning this battle.

Wow having Bortle 4.5 only a quarter mile from a Bortle 8 zone is amazing!

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

We are at a solid Bortle 8 here at my house, 30 years ago I could see the Milky Way here, those days are long gone. This is the reason I do solar from home.
I also joined SLOOH a remote observatory in the Canary Islands and Chile and soon Australia. It is not high end like many remote observatories although it has 20" and 2 17" Planewaves. It is more like your own setup remote from your house maintained by a friend. One nice thing is you can watch the imaging runs in real time!
If anyone is interested I have a write up I did on them, too long to post here.

here is my home as well as the Seagrave Observatory in N. Scituate RI where I also belong to the Skyscrapers Astro club.

[Star Dad]

Wow having Bortle 4.5 only a quarter mile from a Bortle 8 zone is amazing!

Well, I am lucky that there is a HILL between me and downtown - and all the old houses around here are mainly 3 story - so they block a lot of the LP. Also, I living right across from a small park which adds to the darkness - but I still have a street light right outside the house... but fortunately, our house is between my setup and the light. Behind me is a really steep cliff with only a lone street light which is blocked by trees most of the time (and it's shielded). I can't see anything below about 30 degrees altitude because of trees or buildings, but there's a Bortle 4 campground just 20 minutes away... which has a great southern view... and power for camper and scope. I convinced my neighbor to put in a motion detector instead of leaving a light on all night... that has made all the difference. Still, I can't quite make out the Milky Way - almost, but not quite. Our town is too poor and never went through urban renewal, so we have a lot of historic homes.

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I live 300 feet from a major mall can read star charts without a red light!

[helicon]

Wow having Bortle 4.5 only a quarter mile from a Bortle 8 zone is amazing!

Well, I am lucky that there is a HILL between me and downtown - and all the old houses around here are mainly 3 story - so they block a lot of the LP. Also, I living right across from a small park which adds to the darkness - but I still have a street light right outside the house... but fortunately, our house is between my setup and the light. Behind me is a really steep cliff with only a lone street light which is blocked by trees most of the time (and it's shielded). I can't see anything below about 30 degrees altitude because of trees or buildings, but there's a Bortle 4 campground just 20 minutes away... which has a great southern view... and power for camper and scope. I convinced my neighbor to put in a motion detector instead of leaving a light on all night... that has made all the difference. Still, I can't quite make out the Milky Way - almost, but not quite. Our town is too poor and never went through urban renewal, so we have a lot of historic homes.

Pretty nice conditions. My problem is that there are so many trees around here. Basically a rainforest with Cedars and Douglas firs many of which are around 100 feet tall. However I discovered that the marina on the lake is mostly deforested, so there should be a good opportunity to observe. It is only a quarter mile from my house which is around 8-10 miles away from a town with 90,000 people. There are no streetlights here so that is a major help.