Anybody hungry and want any TACOs?

plus they’re eating the dogs!

Thank you! Sure, here you go: https://www.astrocg.de/index.php/astro-gallery/

#1Pimmelgate

I like to do astrophotography in my freetime and I can recommend tools like light pollution maps and the Bortle scale to check out your surrounding area.

It gives a good idea where better skies might be not too far away. For where I live in Germany, there are bortle 4 skies (scale goes up to 9, the lower the less pollution).

I can see the Milkyway in the southern sky during summer from the driveway, but as soon as you get to a “bigger” city that starts to become harder/impossible.

I visited LaPalma (Canary Islands) a few years ago and that was one of the best experiences I ever had:

Up at the highest peak (> 2400 m) watching the sun set and having the night take over. Milkyway as clear as you can imagine! LaPalma is doing a lot to keep it that way, and I hope more cities would care for our beautiful nightsky the way they do.

Italy also has great skies, especially the more rural areas, here is one example from 2023: