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Light Pollution Map

lightpollutionmap.info

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Re: Light Pollution Map

#101

Post by acwan93 »

wongarsu wrote: post #40
Naac wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the law? What are people legally required to do?

Probably the most noticable change in recent years is the replacement of mercury-vapor streetlights with the yellow-orange sodium-vapor lights, or with orangish LEDs (although some use blueish LEDs that are not that great for light pollution). In terms of actual legal requirements, Bavaria prohibits sky beams/searchlights directed upwards, and the illumination of facades of public buildings between 11pm and morning.

San Jose, California does this for the Lick Observatory at Mt. Hamilton, although I think they're switching to blueish LEDs. The sodium-vapor lights are frequently mistaken as yellow traffic lights though, in my experience.

Re: Light Pollution Map

#102

Post by giantg2 »

abhayhegde wrote: post #95

This has been a very useful website. I observed that the more "developed" a place is, more the population and inevitably a lot of light pollution. I wonder how to reduce light pollution while not bargaining with the safety at night.

Give everyone night vision?

Re: Light Pollution Map

#103

Post by unbalancedevh »

This is kind of depressing. I'm looking for a piece of land where I can get away from light pollution, and this is telling me that there is no such place anywhere near me, even out in the "countryside."

Re: Light Pollution Map

#104

Post by xattt »

unbalancedevh wrote: post #103

This is kind of depressing. I'm looking for a piece of land where I can get away from light pollution, and this is telling me that there is no such place anywhere near me, even out in the "countryside."

The eastern end of Prince Edward Island (Canada) comes pretty darn close to this darkness. Even though it’s sparsely populated, it’s a place that doesn’t feel isolated because of social capital.

Re: Light Pollution Map

#105

Post by agys »

We proposed – as a counter-point to the many “light-festivals” – a festival of darkness: all the lights of the city would be off for one night. It didn’t get trough, unfortunately.

Re: Light Pollution Map

#106

Post by sciurus »

amoorthy wrote: post #70
dmrotar wrote: post #56

Resources like this (and as others have mentioned, Dark Site Finder) are very useful for astrophotography, especially for a hobbyist like myself. Many don't realize how relatively close they live to areas with great nighttime viewing conditions. For example, upstate New York has some great viewing locations, so even if you live in NYC it's an easy weekend trip. Here's a shot I took of the Milky Way taken from such a…

Wow amazing! I've been itching to show my kids the Milky Way. I myself have only seen it once in New Zealand decades ago. What is the minimum dark sky rating to be able to see it with the naked eye? I live in the Bay Area and I know there is Pigeon Point Lighthouse which is a dark sky spot but I think it's often cloudy. If anyone has better suggestions would be grateful to hear those.

Based on https://astrobackyard.com/the-bortle-scale/ I'm guessing 3 or 2 to see it well.

Re: Light Pollution Map

#107

Post by doubtfuluser »

amoorthy wrote: post #70
dmrotar wrote: post #56

Resources like this (and as others have mentioned, Dark Site Finder) are very useful for astrophotography, especially for a hobbyist like myself. Many don't realize how relatively close they live to areas with great nighttime viewing conditions. For example, upstate New York has some great viewing locations, so even if you live in NYC it's an easy weekend trip. Here's a shot I took of the Milky Way taken from such a…

Wow amazing! I've been itching to show my kids the Milky Way. I myself have only seen it once in New Zealand decades ago. What is the minimum dark sky rating to be able to see it with the naked eye? I live in the Bay Area and I know there is Pigeon Point Lighthouse which is a dark sky spot but I think it's often cloudy. If anyone has better suggestions would be grateful to hear those.

I once got nice shots from Mt Tam. You can hardly see it, but with an ok camera doing long exposure you can get some nice pictures - even being so close to SF

Re: Light Pollution Map

#108

Post by iguessthislldo »

afterburner wrote: post #82
baltimore wrote: post #75

This place in Kazakhstan is lit! https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=5.62&lat=48.7573&lo...

Check out this spot in northern Siberia: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=5.58&lat=67.9757&lo...

I was drawn to that same spot because it was big but there's no city there on the map. I opened google map to see what was there and found this: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Vankor+manufacturing+site/...

Seems to be an oil field: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vankor_Field

Also didn't google it as much, but it looks like oil fields in Texas give off plenty of light as well: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=9.14&lat=28.6928&lo...

Re: Light Pollution Map

#110

Post by at_a_remove »

tut-urut-utut wrote: post #25

It's not like nothing can be done about light pollution. For example Germany has a law about light pollution, and it shows on this map. It less polluted than its neighbours, although it has higher population density and urbanization level.

Lord knows if I were emperor or whatever, I would have some fairly draconian laws on the books, with hefty fines, about so many light sources. I can walk around at night and read a paper books. It's easy. Some places, I feel like the going standard is "can someone perform open heart surgery on this stretch of road?"

A lot of it is a race to the bottom -- look at my sign! Sure, my business is not open right now, but I have a sign! Advertising alone is a huge detriment to the light pollution landscape.

Much of it comes from misguided "this will be safer" concerns. And so half the neighborhood has these floodlights installed above their doors that will be on all night, plus little solar lights everywhere. Oftentimes, they're positioned so poorly that it actually makes seeing people walking around more difficult, due to having these things shine away in my eyes.

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