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RE: (meteorobs) LM Star Count vs Milky Way Perception
In regards to seeing the Milky Way, among other things George Zay said:
>Sometime last year, Marco mentioned that he doesn't start noticing the Milky
>Way until he gets a star count that gives an LM around 6.0. I believe Robert
>Lunsford said something similar? They both often will achieve LM's on dark
>nights in the upper 6's and above. My normal limiting magnitude that I can get
>from a very dark sky location from this method is at best around 6.0 to 6.1.
>In my case, I begin to perceive the milky way when my LM is near 5.2. These
>observers can see dimmer stars than I on a routine basis, but don't notice the
>milky way until they get a 6.0 sky. It puzzles me as to why I can't see the
>dimmer stars but am able to perceive the milky way with a brighter sky than
>these individuals with the apparent better eyesight.
Very interesting point. Although I generally see fainter stars than George Zay
at a dark sky site in West Virginia (about 6.3 to 6.5), I don't see nearly as
faint as Marco L. or Bob L. do; yet I too can see the Milky Way at around LM=
5.4 or so. I don't have a clue as to why this is, but find it interesting. Does
anyone think they can solve this puzzle that George Z. has brought up?
GWG
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