I highly recommend looking for a protected night sky zone near you and going to see it at least once - it really is nothing that pictures can translate!
I'm in Singapore. We boast an impressive 100% urbanisation rate. Combine that with commonly overcast skies, and you hardly see any stars at all here. (I'm here by choice, I grew up in small town Germany.)
There's probably a space somewhere in Malaysia that's dark, or I could take a cruise ship out to the ocean, if you go by absolute distance.
By convenience, it's probably easiest to take a plane somewhere.
Not sure what their criteria is, they don't have any marked in my state (Queensland, Australia) even though there would probably (seriously) be an area bigger than the whole of France here out west where you can see the milky way with your bare eyes.
You can look around or call local park services, I'm seeing that Mont-Megantic, an observatory with federally peotected sky, isn't on their map. I'll look for a canadian ressource (for myself too!)
Edit: I'm wrong, Mont-Megantic is the first International Dark Sky Reserve - they worked to get it protected federally because they research telescope design. Dang - I think they are quite rare.
Maybe you can send an email to your local university's Astronomy department? I'm sure they'll be able to direct you to a good spot!
Yes. It's supposed to be burning up methane, which is a worse greenhouse gas, but the efficacy is in question. It's called "gas flaring" if you want to know more.
It's one of the highlights of my life, and it's been about fifteen years since.
If you stare up long enough, you notice the rotation of the Earth with the cosmos seemingly revolving around you. And fuck me, you'll stare up long enough.
Unfortunately, you are among many. I read a statistic that 90+% of people have never seen the Milky Way.
I grew up out in the country, and the night sky instilled a love of astronomy from an early age. If all you can see is a handful of stars, it's easy to forget what's above your head.
