Honestly, I feel this so hard. Tbh I spent a whole year convinced my screen was too small and I was about to buy a whole new projector, but then I realized I had the zoom ring set to like half way the whole time. Ngl, I felt like a total idiot when I finally turned it and my image got way bigger without moving anything. It's wild how we just set stuff up once and never think about it again, and then one random night you're looking at specs and everything clicks. Makes me want to go re-check my whole setup for the millionth time just in case I'm leaving something else on the table.

Diving into that thought, your buddy might be onto something bigger than just light pollution. I remember reading about how satellites and space junk are literally reflecting more sunlight back at us now, which can wash out dimmer stars in photos and even to the naked eye. If he compared maps from 2012, that was right before the big satellite mega-constellations started launching, so the sky has changed a ton since then. Honestly, it made me check my own old photos from college camping trips and yeah, the stars look way duller now even in the same remote spot.