How Skyglow Pollution Is Separating Us From the Stars (theguardian.com) 46
Light infrastructure has expanded alongside population growth but it's not only star gazing in jeopardy -- cultures, wildlife, science and human health are all threatened. From a report: Some researchers call light pollution cultural genocide. Generations of complex knowledge systems, built by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders upon a once-clear view of the Milky Way, are being lost. In the natural world, the mountain pygmy possum, a marsupial native to Australia, is critically endangered. Its main food source, the bogong moth, is being affected by artificial outdoor lighting messing with its migration patterns. Sea turtles are exhibiting erratic nesting and migration behaviours due to lights blasting from new coastal developments. So how bright does our future look under a blanket of light?
"If you go to Mount Coot-tha, basically the highest point in Brisbane, every streetlight you can see from up there is a waste of energy," Brendan Downs says. "Why is light going up and being wasted into the atmosphere? There's no need for it." Around the world, one in three people can't see the Milky Way at night because their skies are excessively illuminated. Four in five people live in towns and cities that emit enough light to limit their view of the stars. In Europe, that figure soars to 99%. Blame skyglow -- the unnecessary illumination of the sky above, and surrounding, an urban area. It's easy to see it if you travel an hour from a city, turn around, then look back towards its centre.
"If you go to Mount Coot-tha, basically the highest point in Brisbane, every streetlight you can see from up there is a waste of energy," Brendan Downs says. "Why is light going up and being wasted into the atmosphere? There's no need for it." Around the world, one in three people can't see the Milky Way at night because their skies are excessively illuminated. Four in five people live in towns and cities that emit enough light to limit their view of the stars. In Europe, that figure soars to 99%. Blame skyglow -- the unnecessary illumination of the sky above, and surrounding, an urban area. It's easy to see it if you travel an hour from a city, turn around, then look back towards its centre.
Pollution is Pollution - Ask your Circadian Cycle (Score:2)
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There's also the issue of out-of-proportion streetlight poles. I live in a neighborhood with only houses, and streetlamps have giant poles, 30-40 feet tall. There are but a couple houses as tall as those among hundreds in the whole neighborhood.
Streetlamps in the whole neighborhood should not be taller than 15 feet, there's no reason for them to be taller than that.
A couple years ago, my wife gifted me a telescope. I used it for a few nights, then ran out of stuff to watch. I last used it during the day, to
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Taller light poles are better, as you don't look into the light as much when the pole is taller. I have 15ft light poles in my street and they're a menace.
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That's a design issue.
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I am sorry about your light pollution problem. To use a telescope you need a vehicle to move away from the polluted areas. It is worth it. It is the most common way to use a telescope.
That said i enjoy watching several times the same objects. Like Jupiter and its moving clouds, red spot and moons. To each his own i guess.
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"Skyglow" is a word that's been used among amateur astronomers, to describe a specific light pollution effect, for at least decades. Since those people have always been anti-light-pollution, presumably the rest of the movement picked it up from them.
Sorry about your ignorance.
Re:Always fun to see some new buzzwords. (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, you tell 'em. Who would have thought that years ago Sky & Telescope would use the exact same word to describe light pollution. They even have a web site [skyandtelescope.org] to rate the level of skyglow in your area.
There's even an entire web site devoted to recording the amount of skyglow [skyglowproject.com] over cities and its destructive nature on plants and animals.
It's almost as if you're whining for the sake of whining and have no clue what you're whining about.
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Its kind of amazing to me that anyone pays these people
It amazes you that people get paid for doing their job and researching correct terms which have been used by astronomers for literally decades and sharing this information with you?
Man I feel sorry for your school teacher. Not only because you think they shouldn't be paid, but because clearly it was a waste of effort.
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ouch
Unnecessary? (Score:2, Interesting)
Outside of a few studies quoted way out of proportion because of politics, street lighting has been shown to reduce accidents.
There's too much light in a city to be fully dark adjusted, if the street is the only exception to that light ... use common sense instead politics. It saves lives, if you think reduced light pollution is worth a few lives just be honest about it. Don't twist the truth and common sense into a pretzel.
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Care to cite any that do? There are plenty of communities that have substantially less light pollution than others [darksky.org]. Are they significantly less safe? Flagstaff, Arizona is the first Dark Sky community in the U.S., and it is substantially safer [travelsafe-abroad.com] than just about any other city in Arizona.
International Dark Sky Association has a section on their website about lighting, crime, and
Re:Unnecessary? (Score:5, Informative)
You can have both less light pollution, and also lit streets, with properly designed streetlights which aim the light where it's needed with lenses, reflectors etc. As I understand it, most of the light pollution reduction efforts are based on aiming light, not eliminating lights.
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Sure, just take any of the older studies before it got political.
https://www.rospa.com/rospaweb... [rospa.com]
Re:Unnecessary? (Score:5, Interesting)
Outside of a few studies quoted way out of proportion because of politics, street lighting has been shown to reduce accidents.
There's too much light in a city to be fully dark adjusted, if the street is the only exception to that light ... use common sense instead politics. It saves lives, if you think reduced light pollution is worth a few lives just be honest about it. Don't twist the truth and common sense into a pretzel.
Street (and sidewalk) lighting is certainly an important safety factor. But you can design them so they leak less of their light into the sky.
But also think of the lit up billboards and store signs or nightclubs literally shining floodlights into the sky so that people all over the city can see them. There's a lot of urban light pollution that could be eliminated with very few externalities.
Re: Unnecessary? (Score:2)
Outside of a few studies quoted way out of proportion because of politics, street lighting has been shown to reduce accidents.
Not drinking and screwing up your night vision has the same effect.
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street lighting has been shown to reduce accidents.
If you can see the light from a mountain above then it's not hitting the street. This isn't HotWheels. People don't drive on loops above the streetlamp.
... use common sense instead politics.
I honestly am not sure what to make of this. No one is pushing a political angle, and you sure as heck are not bringing any common sense to the discussion.
Maybe understand the point being made before commenting on it in future.
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If you don't want to see light from the mountain the only thing you can do is turn off the light. You can see a candle in the dark from a mile away. There will always be reflected light no matter what lighting system you use. If there wasn't any reflected light then you wouldn't be able to see where you were going since the light would never reach your eyes (i.e. the light has to reflect off the ground for you to see the ground).
This isn't to say that the amount of reflected light can't be reduced but you w
Reflectance (Score:5, Insightful)
There is something of a conflict between minimizing reflectance to reduce light pollution and maximizing it to reduce A/C power consumption.
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You want a building's roof to be reflective, but there's no need to light a roof from above.
You also want the windows to be reflective, but with good street light design, light shining into a window will be reflected down toward the ground.
So there's really no "conflict between minimizing reflectance to reduce light pollution and maximizing it to reduce A/C power consumption." It's just laziness.
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Even with a perfect lamp design, there is significant reflection from concrete, asphalt and buildings. There is something of a conflict between minimizing reflectance to reduce light pollution and maximizing it to reduce A/C power consumption.
Light pollution can be halved simply by selecting narrow band yellowish instead of lowest bidder blueish lighting.
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Even with a perfect lamp design, there is significant reflection from concrete, asphalt and buildings.
Yes there is, but that's no reason not to have a perfect lamp design. Having lived in Brisbane you can see most street lights from above. Their deflectors are big frigging orbs that spray light around about 270 degrees. It's a design so shit you can literally call the council and request them to put shades on the light if it is visible from your bedroom, and they'll happily do it, even they recognise that they just spew light out in stupid directions.
Starglasses (Score:2)
We need to provide moths et al starglasses - small polarized lenses that block out "skyglow." That'll solve it!
Humanity has Lost Its Sense of Scale and Wonder (Score:5, Insightful)
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I was an adult before I was in a remote enough place to see the milky way unobstructed at night, and it was gorgeous and relatively bright. I didn't have to squint or avert my eyes to see it in my periphery.
And then I thought about how that would have been a common ho-hum sight for most people perhaps 250+ years ago before utility gas lighting and electrification.
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Coal and wood smoke likely obscured the stars as often as not in urban environments. Urban environments have always been a grimy morass of filth. It was only the 20th century which really changed that significantly to make them generally livable (and they are still primary cause of increased mortality throughout much of the less developed world).
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I lived on the coast as a kid. Due to the nightly coastal haze I really had no need to look up at the stars. Couldn't see them. On a trip to the midwest I finally had a reason to look up. Yeah, I still remember that, too. It took a second night of viewing for me to realize that the Milky Way was not a haze of high clouds, which was what I was used to seeing.
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I grew up in the country. I remember laying on my back and just looking up into the sky at night and seeing the milky way which was like a river of stars. It was amazing, awe inspiring and really made me think about what was out there.
I live in the city now and you only see a sprinkle of stars. I read about light pollution years ago but didn't think much of it until I did a tour where you get to experience star systems in 3d in a specially built room and they showed the night sky without light pollution. It
Sure (Score:1)
And some call these researchers hyperbolic and luddites. We should wax poetic about a simpler time when many children died before their third birthday and when a superficial cut could cause sepsis.
I, for one, remember before skyglow (Score:2)
In 1970 I spent much of the summer in Labrador. Among other things, I learned you could read by starlight, and the trees were green all the way to the horizon. Yes, I could read by starlight, no moonlight needed.
In Arizona, most communities require some mitigation of unwanted illumination. I see guards and shutters, etc, possibly of limited effect. It's worth a try.
But now we have not only Starlink, but a worse competitor causing more problems. I doubt this gets better without a global strategy.
Oh damn, I w
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When astronomers complain about LEO constellations I only think they feel unjustly entitled. When someone says having a few man made moving lights among the stars ruins his enjoyment of the starry sky, I question their sanity ... don't let twitter politics give you an OCD.
A starry sky with light pollution is a blank, a starry sky with a LEO constellation adding some moving lights is mostly unchanged ... don't sweat the small stuff.
Re: I, for one, remember before skyglow (Score:2)
According to the professional astronomers, Starlink in particular is a real impediment to their most delicate observations. I don't think it's entitlement, it's more like somebody didn't think something through. But it's done and it won't be undone. They'll learn how to deal with it by observing away from the constellation of Starlink. Or maybe they'll go into a different business, or they'll take full advantage of the space telescopes, which we ought to be doing anyway, including one of the dark side of th
I hate to tell you (Score:2)
"Why is light going up and being wasted into the atmosphere? There's no need for it."
Just as there is no need for the light of the milky way.
Not even bugs are bothered by that light.
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Just as there is no need for the light of the milky way.
I don't swim in the river that's why I just throw my garbage into it. I highly recommend it. All my neighbours are sitting trying to remember which day is bin day like chumps, while my bin is always empty.
Motion Activated Lights and Reflective Surfaces (Score:2)
Have lights turn on when needed. Limits time on and also alerts the public to the motion.
Also, add reflective stuff to more surfaces. Yeah, they get dirty. Reapplying and cleaning sucks as a job, but it's not terribly difficult.
Stores will still have signage, and entry/exit areas will need constant lighting. And maybe a large area of a parking lot lights up for a single person. It would have been on the entire time anyway.
Control systems for implementing motion activated lighting is a decently interest
Help is on the way! (Score:1)
North Korea has solved the skyglow problem. https://i.natgeofe.com/n/7e04f... [natgeofe.com] I understand that Europe will be adopting a similar solution this winter.
Look, if you want dark skies, do this (Score:1)
Forget about:
>Some researchers call light pollution cultural genocide. Generations of complex knowledge systems, built by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders upon a once-clear view of the Milky Way, are being lost. In the natural world, the mountain pygmy possum, a marsupial native to Australia, is critically endangered. Its main food source, the bogong moth, is being affected by artificial outdoor lighting messing with its migration patterns. Sea turtles are exhibiting erratic nesting and