>> Still, even on school caving trips in the middle of nowhere, I don't 
>> recall seeing many stars in the night sky. I presume they're still 
>> there, we just can't see them any more.
> 
> http://www.astro-travels.com/pictures/Europe-Light-Pollution.jpg
> 
> On the above map my house is on the border of a green/yellow region and 
> I can make out a huge number of stars on a clear night, the Milky Way is 
> also just barely visible on a really good night.

Aren't we *in* the Milky Way?

> I don't know exactly 
> where MK is on that map, but it looks a bit red/orange around there :-(

I would suggest that MK is the small red dot just NW of London. (Or if 
it isn't, it's in that general direction.)

> Don't forget you need to go outside for at least 20 minutes or so for 
> your eyes to get fully adjusted to the dark, initially it might look 
> like only a dozen or so stars are visible, but after a few minutes you 
> will see hundreds more.

We drove to and from work through lots of wilderness, and at this time 
of night it's quite dark even at 5PM. Many of the roads aren't lit.

I don't recall where we get dragged to on our school caving trips, but 
we seemingly had to drive for many hours along winding rounds lined with 
dry stone walls before reaching the nearest building with electricity.

> BTW if you're interested, one of the brightest "stars" in the sky at the 
> moment is actually Jupiter.

Any ideas what the visual angle for that is? ;-)

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