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I was having a conversation with a gentleman recently and he told me about a trip he had made out west to the Colorado mountains and how startling it was to be able to see so many stars in the night sky compared to how many that were visible to him here in the metropolitan area.

On that same subject, several years ago I had a meeting with a group of friends about the population of stars visible to us from our vantage point under the brightly lit night sky of the metropolitan area.

Of the group, three lived in Omaha, two in Council Bluffs and one in Macedonia.

During that meeting, the gentleman from Macedonia commented quite smugly on how many stars he could see from his home in the country.

There really wasn’t any argument over that statement since those of us who live under those brightly lit night skies are seriously hampered in our stargazing efforts.

If the sky is clear when I step outside my home about 8:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. and look overhead, I am able to see approximately 1,800 to 2,000 stars. Of that number, 90% are stars classed as first, second or third magnitude.