How many stars can you see?
By John Goss
When darkness settles, July and August evenings provide a wonderful opportunity to view the immensity of the night sky as seen from a rural area.
City dwellers, those who reside in suburbia, and even seasoned stargazers are astonished at the number of stars encountered when they visit a dark, rural area. Instead of counting perhaps 100 stars from their backyards, suddenly they are exposed to 2,000 points of light—some bright, most faint. A common sentiment heard in campgrounds far from city lights is, “I bet that I can see a million stars!”
And on top of that, city folks can’t see the Milky Way from where they live. In the country, however, they sure can, and the experience can leave quite an impression. It is not just numerous faint stars, but a soft, subtle, luminous band spotted with dark bays and mysterious glows stretching from the southern horizon to high overhead, then to the northeastern horizon. Toss in a couple of bright planets, along with a handful of streaking meteors, and the skywatcher is in for quite a night!
The story above first appeared in our July/August 2026 issue.
