It's wonderful to see the stars clearly, but your description seems hyperbolic in its nostalgia. Unless you're referring to a night lit by the Moon's reflection of our *own* star's light (or are referring to a rather straight, wide path free of treacherous roots), attempting what you seem to be describing (i.e. navigating a woodland trail by starlight alone) would be a pretty good way to break a limb or worse. Starlight together with airglow provides only something on the order of 2x10^-3 lux, which, on its own, is too little illumination for us (narrow pupil-ed, tapetum lucidum-lacking) humans to see forest paths well. Alternatively, if by "by starlight" you didn't mean using starlight alone to see your way, but just "under the light of the stars", you can still do that.Psnarf wrote:I miss the dark skies one could easily find half a century ago when you could walk a woodland trail by starlight.
Additionally, there are still many dark places that were dark half a century ago, and conversely, many places that are brightly lit by artificial illumination now were already brightly lit in 1963.
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