..we do the best we are able.   This picture on the left is M-45 - the Pleiades; this is the best it will appear on the clearest night west of County Line Road.

The image of the Double Cluster in Perseus to the right is an honest representation of what you might see against the darker skies  at the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve.

How much we see depends on sky darkness.   Salt shows up on a black floor but will hide on a gray floor. Traveling to dark skies is always a trade off:  Our site at Oil Capital Rod and Gun Club is a low traffic, 15 minute drive from County Line Road at 71st . At this location one can see much more as there is virtually no light pollution except low in the western sky. 

If you want to experience truly black velvet skies, prepare for a 200 mile round trip to the Kansas border northwest of Bartlesville, OK or a similar length trip to Lake Eufaula.

What you see in books and on the internet and TV is light amplified dramatically by long exposures and false colors used to isolate and analyze elements. We notice subtle color differences in stars because they are bright enough to trigger the cones (color receptors) on our eye’s retinas.

Even through larger commercial telescope, most objects other than some stars, planets, and the brightest nebulae, appear as white and shades of gray with only the slightest hint of color.

To the right we see the Eagle Nebula (M-16) imaged multiple times, each with a filter which allows only the emission spectrum of certain elements to pass.  Each exposure is assigned a certain color - either similar to the actual or otherwise determined color.  Then images are overlaid for artistic, often scientifically relevant purpose.