Spacer, I have yet to see any picture that accurately portrays, or even captures the feeling of, seeing the night sky from a dark site with your own eyes.  Just like they say with experiencing a total solar eclipse, a picture just cannot do it justice.  That being said, I would say Fireinthehole's image is close.

Good luck out in the desert!  I look forward to hearing your impressions.

Speaking of the Bortle scale, how do I interpret this map: darksitefinder? It uses 15 degrees of darkness/brightness, while the Bortle scale uses only 9 degrees to my knowledge.

Speaking of the Bortle scale, how do I interpret this map: darksitefinder? It uses 15 degrees of darkness/brightness, while the Bortle scale uses only 9 degrees to my knowledge.

Yeah that map is more detailed. The colors are the same, as far as I know. For example, blue is Bortle class 3, while darker blue may be Bortle class 2.5 or something. Better than 3, but not quite as good as a solid 2.

I think on the map that 9 is solid white, while 8 through 2 each get split in two (lighter and darker version of the color), and then 1 is solid black.

Is there any Pixinsight expert around? I'm having some trouble processing a picture of M31 and maybe someone can set me in the right direction.
I stacked several M31's pictures and process it with Pixinght. Tha main problem is that I can't get the blueish dust disk at all! I even get that dark clouds of the disk, but noy the disk itself. Any ideas?

Good luck out in the desert!  I look forward to hearing your impressions.

thanks! i hope there won't be clouds suddenly or high humidity to ruin the show. we yet to decide if we go tomorrow (30% moon that rise around 00:00) or to go next week when there is new moon or it set early before night. the problem with next week that we can't know the weather yet. so it's like a gamble. if next week will be cloudy or high humidity...the summer will be over before we go. but if we go tomorrow i see the humidity will be around 40-50% which is good and not high to ruin the show, but the moon will be 30% of its full brightness.
what would you do? will 30% moon will ruin the show a bit?
pzampella, awesome screenshot! i like it with or without the disk! 

pzampella, awesome screenshot! i like it with or without the disk! 

Hahaha thank you Spacer! But I really want to pull out that disk, otherwise that picture can't be titled "Andromeda's Galaxy", but "Andromeda's Galaxy Core with noise".

what would you do? will 30% moon will ruin the show a bit?

It would be a bit annoying, yeah, but if it doesn't rise until 00:00 then you still have almost 4 hours of total darkness to work with.  Also, the best part (central part) of the Milky Way is highest above the horizon between 20:00 and 21:00.  By 00:00 it's low on the horizon and losing visibility, anyway.

Can you get there well before midnight (preferably near or shortly after sunset?)  If so, I'd say go for it now rather than gamble with weather next week.

Watsisname, Ok tomorrow is the day i am going!!
i asked a meteorologist of my town about the weather where i am going. he said the chances for clouds are small but he said the humidity will be moderate, around 50%.

i heard before that high humidity will ruin the show, but someone knows what the % of humidity is high enough to ruin the show? 

i asked a meteorologist of my town about the weather where i am going. he said the chances for clouds are small but he said the humidity will be moderate, around 50%.

i heard before that high humidity will ruin the show, but someone knows what the % of humidity is high enough to ruin the show?

Not at all.  It might be moderate humidity at ground level, but the whole atmosphere looks to be quite dry on Thursday night.  A good way to tell is by an infrared satellite view, simulated here:



The very dark colors -- almost black -- indicate lack of clouds as well as low amounts of water vapor through the atmosphere, and thus the satellite has a very clear view to the warm surface.  Which is good for you, as it means you get a very clear view to the stars!

 Another check is the "total precipitable water":



Here we have dark/brown colors, again indicating low moisture content in the atmosphere.  So it should be quite good!

Watsisname, nice!!! its a good thing to live in dry country to watch the sky!
i am heading there in 3 hours. the drive will take 3 hours. i will be there at 19:00 

Good luck and have fun!

OMG that was awesome!! i could see the milky way all across the sky with whiteish-greyish color and about 1000 of stars!!!
i dont know if the bortle class was 3 or 2 but it was very clear and the sky ubove the head was filled with stars and the arm of the milky way!! that was awesome night. it was the second most dark place in the country which you can arrive with a car.
we will go to the darkest place one day too.
what i was disappointed about is that we couldn't stay long to see perseus, andromeda galaxy, orion and venus.
we left the area at 23:00 and orion only rise at 4:00. but next time we will be more prepared to even sleep in the area. 
seeing this for the first time is the shock you get, i know it won't be the last time i see it but i guess seeing this for the first time ever is the biggest hit, and now all i want is to go back.
I was in this area:

I'm so glad you got to see it!  More and more people are living under light polluted skies, and living their whole lives without knowing what a dark sky looks like.  Everyone should get this experience at least once.  

And that looks like an amazing place to see it from, too!  What a landscape!

What a landscape!

yeah it is the most beautiful area in the country IMO.