Revisited the old observatory site near Flagstaff, the sky photos hit different now

Drove out to the old Anderson Mesa spot last weekend, first time in maybe 8 years. The parking lot is still there but the dome is gone, just a concrete pad with some faded numbers. What got me was comparing the wide field shots my dad took back in the 90s with what I tried this time, the stars are way dimmer now even with the same camera settings. Light pollution from Flagstaff has spread further than I expected, you can see a orange glow on the horizon that definitely wasnt in those old prints. I spent about 2 hours just shooting the Milky Way core and it barely showed up compared to the old film photos. Anyone else gone back to a familiar dark sky spot and noticed the difference over the years?

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the_faith15d ago

Hard to say if it's actually worse or if you're just looking with different eyes. Eight years is a long time, memory plays tricks on you. Camera sensors and film are totally different beasts, you can't really compare them shot for shot. Flagstaff has been growing but it's not like Phoenix blew up overnight. Maybe the sky is a bit brighter, sure, but calling it a big deal seems like a stretch. Probably just need to get out there more often instead of once a decade.