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Light Pollution Map

lightpollutionmap.info

171–180 of 200 posts

Re: Light Pollution Map

#171

I checked the area I live in, it's pretty rural and has no red, except for one blob that seems to be in the middle of nowhere. So I looked it up on a satellite photo and sure enough, there's a large greenhouse operation there. Seems odd that they'd be running their lights at night, though.

Depends on what they are growing, cacti and orchids for example LOVE 24/7 light and grow way faster then the typical 16/8 light schedule. But most are probably some form of veggie or flower so they need 16/8 light schedule.

It's veggies, leafy greens as far as I can tell.

Re: Light Pollution Map

#172

It would be really great if this and other kinds of geospatial data were more open and easily mashed-up. Let's say I wanted to find a nice tract of land to buy (Zillow), which has good hiking trails (AllTrails), low light pollution for stargazing (lightpollutonmap.info), and maybe a dirt airstrip (vfrmaps) to fly into. Currently, I have to have four browser windows open with each site. There's no way to mash this dat…

If the sites offer downloads or can be scraped in spatial formats you can use QGIS (free and open source) although you may need to learn some of the basics of gis like a bit about datums and projections.

qgis.org

It is exactly for these kinds of spatial analyses that these tools exist. Dev tools might work but this is an existing field with advanced tools you won't code yourself any time soon.

Re: Light Pollution Map

#173
What is fascinating to me about this is the regions including [1] in North Dakota or [2] in northern Russia (~300 km southwest of Norilsk) that have incredibly large and bright zones of light pollution -- more than many large cities -- almost entirely disconnected from population, apparently as a result of temporary natural gas extraction infrastructure.

The pollution at [1] is larger/brighter than Denver, and [2] is about equivalent to Moscow!

[1] https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=7.67&lat=47.9667&lo... [2] https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=7.43&lat=67.7473&lo...

Re: Light Pollution Map

#174

What is fascinating to me about this is the regions including [1] in North Dakota or [2] in northern Russia (~300 km southwest of Norilsk) that have incredibly large and bright zones of light pollution -- more than many large cities -- almost entirely disconnected from population, apparently as a result of temporary natural gas extraction infrastructure. The pollution at [1] is larger/brighter than Denver, and [2] is…

Mining or oil/gas extraction?

Re: Light Pollution Map

#175
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.

Bit of a trek but the panoche and tumey hills and other spots along the Western edge of the Central valley are dark and remote.

Re: Light Pollution Map

#176

It would be really great if this and other kinds of geospatial data were more open and easily mashed-up. Let's say I wanted to find a nice tract of land to buy (Zillow), which has good hiking trails (AllTrails), low light pollution for stargazing (lightpollutonmap.info), and maybe a dirt airstrip (vfrmaps) to fly into. Currently, I have to have four browser windows open with each site. There's no way to mash this dat…

What about the Gunn valley in BC. Not sure if the airstrip is still there.

Re: Light Pollution Map

#177

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."

Same. I would like to move to somewhere with low light pollution but isn't far from good medical care. Impossible, at least in the US.

Depends how far you want to be but an hour outside of Reno, NV. gets you pretty dark either on a mountain or a remote basin.

Re: Light Pollution Map

#178
post #121

Behold, SE Oregon: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=7.67&lat=43.0350&lo... One of the best places in the country for dark, clear skies.

Love it out there. Nice open spaces and sagebrush.
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