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Unfortunately, today Humanity’s complex environmental pollution has reached the sky too. Millions of street lamps, advertisements and the dazzle lamps of cars are destroying the sky’s sight every night.

During the last decades, the amount of light pollution in the night sky has been becoming increasing greater. This tendency doesn’t seem slowing although many international and local organizations are trying to do something to save the rapidly disappearing stars. The highly light polluted, orange sky is as typical in Hungary as anywhere else in Mid and Western Europe or in the U.S. Fortunately, the situation in Hungary is not the worst yet, and there are a couple of hidden villages where our celestial heritage still rises every clear night.

The map below shows the light pollution of the Hungarian skies from the measurements of GLOBE at Night, 2006.
Balatonfokajar Budapest Dunaszentmiklos Bodvarako Agasvar Bozsva
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Fénytérkép jelkulcs
The red spots indicate my observing sites which I usually visit. By clicking on the spots or scrolling down you can read some more about each one.

You can notice that above Budapest the amount of refracting light in the atmosphere has overflowed on the scale of this map. However the darkest sites in the south-western regions are at the third level. This area called the Zselic, where it is expected that this year the first official European dark sky park will be founded, by the collaboration of the Hungarian Astronomical Association and Duna-Drava national park.

The data used is from the Royal Astronomical Society. I have drawn the figure, by using Google maps.
Further measurements, maps in connection with light pollution can be found here.
Dunaszentmiklos
Dunaszentmiklos
Near the city of Tata, the small Gerecse mountains lie in the north-western region of Hungary. I always set up the equipment at the centre of the wood, in the garden of Rákóczi shooting house. The small field can be protected from direct lights, by turning off the house-lights. Everything is comfortable, there is water, boiler, electricity, warm room, dinner… but the sky is not dark enough for serious photographic work.
Balatonfokajar
Balatonfokajar
Balatonfokajar is a small village a few kilometers north from the coast of Lake Balaton. We have a holiday house there with large garden, where the telescopes can be left all the day. Unfortunately there are trees everywhere, which have grown pretty large in the last few years. The sky is not bad, and I’ve seen some really faint objects on dry, blessed nights. The nearby towns of Lepsény and the closer Veszprém cause some unwanted light on the western horizon. Usually the best view of the sky is just toward the lake.
Budapest
Budapest
The capitol city’s sky is unarguably the worst in Hungary and probably in Mid Europe too. The bright orange sky mixed with some foggy smog makes deep sky photography impossible. With larger telescopes of course we can do planetary, lunar and variable observations. On an average night, the faintest visually observable stars have about 3,5-4 mag. That image was taken from the 16th district of Pest, which is an outer region of the suburban area. (image: 20 sec @ ISO 200)
Bodvarako
Bodvarako
At the northeastern corner of the country near the small willage of Bodvarako lies my darkest and best observing site. Mount Extramos is a protected area at the center of Aggteleki national park. The special shape of the mount is caused by the exploitation of limestone in the recent past. Today there is a great plain on the top, where I always set up the instruments. The sky is wonderful, dark and from anywhere, we have a horizon independent from the azimuth. Naturally, there is no electricity. Our accommodation is 300 m down in the wood, which we visit rarely of course.
Agasvar
Agasvar
Our highest mountain is the Matra. Agasvar is on of the highest tops, where we can climb up with friends to spend a very good time under dark skies. The popular observing site always gives a chance for quality photographic work. It is a large field in the wood with a small rest-house. The environment is very nomadic. There is no permanent electricity or water. Absolutely no comforts of home, everything is ‘do-it-yourself’! The Hungarian Astronomical Association organizes astro-weekends and longer star-parties here every year.
Bozsva
Bozsva
Far from all large cities, Bozsva is my furthest site, which unfortunately, I can rarely visit. Under the cover of full darkness, I assemble my instruments on the hillside. Toward east I usually see a very special phenomenon which is rarely seen in Hungary. A dark cloud! From Romania! There is no refracted incoming light. The terrain is pretty unusual. The ‘observing site’ is located on a 40° slope, which requires orderliness all night, otherwise the filters, eyepieces, cameras, will start sliding down the precipitous hillside.