Questions tagged [light-pollution]
Questions regarding undesired brightening of the night sky inhibiting observation of astronomical objects.
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Binoculars 10x50 in light polluted place
I think to buy cheap 10x50 binoculars for astronomy observations. My leaving area is light polluted, I can see only bright stars and planets in naked eye.
Will I can with this binoculars observe ...
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DIY Sky Quality Meter: Conversion between Illuminance and Luminance
I am trying to create a homemade Sky Quality Meter (SQM) using a TSL2591 light sensor. This sensor measures Illumination (lux), but SQMs measure Luminance (mpsas). I have seen that there are many ...
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What range of exit pupils work for observing the full moon?
I'm observing the full moon, from a major city, with heavy light pollution and dust.
The objective size is fixed, for this comparison, something between 4 and 6 inches. The question is about the ...
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Why does light pollution make the night sky completely black without stars?
I have seens pics of the night sky in areas that naturally have little population like deserts, cold regions and forests and the night sky is slighly bright and colored by shades of blue, red, purple ...
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What effect do aircraft have on night-time visibility?
I have something of an interest in astronomy. I also have a 5" reflector telescope, plus of course binoculars. With the recent coronavirus emergency, a large number of commercial aircraft were ...
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Will Starlink deface the night sky?
There is some discussion (and there are some questions on this site) about the impact of Starlink on observational astronomy. I am not an astronomer, but I am amazed by the beauty an immensity of the ...
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Why are fewer stars seen next to the horizon?
I was in the desert the other day, in an area that was free of light pollution.
While it was easy to see the stars above us, I noticed that near the horizon, even when there is no distance light, we ...
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Telescope on drones to escape light pollution?
Would it be possible to mount a telescope on a high quality drone and fly above the light pollution to get better star shots (if the wind allows it of course)?
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How high does light pollution reach into the sky?
I want to know how high does light pollution typically reach into the sky straight up? Has anyone ever researched this because I wonder if being at 10000ft elevation would reduce the amount of light ...
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Why is Starlink polluting the night sky a big concern if we have space telescopes?
There's a lot of concern in the Astronomy community over the deployment of Starlink satellites. For a good discussion, see the related question How will Starlink affect observational astronomy?
But ...
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Limiting magnitudes for different telescopes
I live in an extremely light polluted place. On a new moon night, magnitude 3.5 stars are at the limit of naked eye visiblity on clear nights, and the Orion nebula is visible as a smudge through my ...
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Looking for methods to preserve night vision
Does anyone have a method to preserve night vision so that a car or other passing light source does not ruin it?
I have a dark location to observe the sky; however, it is near a rarely used dirt road. ...
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What are reliable resources for weather and all other atmospheric obstructions?
Everyone knows you need clear skies to see what the stars or the Sun is doing. Weather is not too particularly hard to determine. There are many resources out there that will tell us the weather in ...
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Effect of particulates on the visibility of stars?
I am looking for a (mathematical) relationship - either empirical or theoretical - which quantifies how the visibility of celestrial objects decreases with increasing amount of particulates in the air....
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How will "modern equipment" allow the Royal Observatory to now avoid some of the effects of light pollution at Greenwich?
The article First Light: a new era for the Royal Observatory says (in part):
25 June 2018
The first modern, research-grade telescopes have just been installed at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, ...
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Is sky-glow affected by height?
I'm an architecture student and my graduation project will consist of building a research center for outer space, my question is whether or not height would affect sky-glow or not ? Thanks in advance, ...
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Different approaches to quantify light pollution on a given location on Earth?
The question Light Pollution: what is the difference between artificial brightness and brightness and SQM made me wonder which different ways exist to directly and indirectly quantify light pollution ...
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One hour driving gets me Bortle Class 3 light pollution, four hours gets Class 1; how will the darker sky view differ qualitatively?
I'm still waiting for an answer to Light Pollution: what is the difference between artificial brightness and brightness and SQM but I'm tired of waiting so I'll just go ahead and ask my follow up ...
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Light Pollution: what is the difference between artificial brightness and brightness and SQM
At this light pollution map they show degrees of light pollution but they have 3 numbers to quantify light pollution and they do not explain in the help section what the numbers mean:
The numbers are ...
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How many streetlights should we turn off to decrease light on the ground by about 2.512 times?
I am looking for some guidance for a back-of-the-envelope-calculation to show that turning off street lights can make a difference for light pollution in the style of a Fermi problem.
My first step is ...
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My local night sky is so bright that I can only see the Moon, so would a low-cost telescope be any use?
Light pollution is so bad near our home that we can't see anything other the Moon in the night sky. For instance there is a street light on all night right in our lane and there are many other housing ...
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Where can I download light pollution data?
I'm creating a website with prediction of how good will be a night for astrophotography.
I take into account the Moon, clouds, but of course I need light pollution data.
Where can I download a light ...
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When can I see the Milky Way from the Earth?
Light pollution is restricting most people from ever seeing the Milky Way from the Earth.
Is there any place in India where I can see the Milky Way?
Is there a database or site with the list of all ...
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How does the illumination of the sky from the sun compare to that of the moon?
I have trouble describing the questions but this is the best I can do.
The sun lights up the sky, until it's about 18 degrees below the horizon. The moon also lights up the sky, and i'm wondering, how ...
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Sky view from Stellarium software vs. Sky view with naked eye
I'm slowly starting to interest in astronomy. Currently I'm enjoying in stargazing but unfortunately place where I live is very light polluted.
I'm planing my vacation in a couple of months and one of ...
CommunityBot
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Light pollution and apparent magnitude of objects in solar system
Dust along the ecliptic scatters light, causing “light pollution” throughout the orbital plane of the solar system. If an object like, say, the sun's corona, had its brightness measured from above the ...
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What is the maximum Clear Sky Light Pollution rating to see the 2018 Perseid Meteor Shower?
I'm talking about the Light Pollution ratings on this page: http://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/faq/2.html
I live in an area which is a 7 on the Bortle Scale ("red" on clearsky.com), but within 2 hours ...
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Is it possible to view the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye in Greece?
I am living in the northern hemisphere in Greece and in class 4 area (light pollution scale). Is it possible to see the Andromeda galaxy with a naked eye?
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What is "class 4 light pollution" and could I estimate my own area's class visually?
This question currently asks
I am living in the northern hemisphere in Greece and in class 4 area (light pollution scale).Is it possible to see the Andromeda galaxy with a naked eye?
I'd never ...
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What does the milky way look like from earth to the human eye without light pollution?
Cameras are great, they allow us to compress several seconds of light exposure into a single instant. This allows us to take amazing pictures of the night sky, like this one.
Of course you can see we ...
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Does New Moon Affect Stargazing After MoonSet?
Referencing the following data for December 11th 2017.
https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/@4799274?month=12&year=2017
To get a dark sky for stargazing does it matter if the moon is at 37.8% so ...
CommunityBot
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In an area with lots of light pollution, which clear sky clock parameter is most important?
I live on the periphery of a large light dome, looking towards the West. I get about 1/3 of the sky towards mountains that is darker. According to ClearDarkSky.com I live in an area with artificial to ...
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Is there any official star gazing location list?
I recall when I was a child (many years ago) my father taking us out to gaze at the starts. I remember being able to see the Milky Way with our naked eyes (North Central New Jersey). Nowadays living ...
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Convert RGB pixel value of an image to limiting magnitude
I have taken photos at different exposures from different places of the Orion constellation. I wish to find the effect of skyglow on the limiting magnitude of stars in the Orion constellation. How can ...
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In what parts of the world is it impossible to view the night sky due to light pollution?
Growing up far from any city, I have always been able to view the full night sky. It was just the way how things were. Of course, I knew that light pollution is a thing, and that the sky is a lot less ...
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Adverse effects of urban growth on old astronomy observatories? Need article/book [closed]
I am looking to get some information on the adverse effects of urban growth/light pollution on the oldest/traditional observatories of the world (europe).
Can anyone recommend me books or articles to ...
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What would the night sky look like if Earth orbited an intergalactic star?
If the Earth and its host star were located exactly in-between the Milky Way and Andromeda would the night sky be completely void of light?
Would stars be visible to the unaided eye?
So there could ...
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Do Noctilucent clouds cause problems with telescopes?
Noctilucent clouds are at around 85km altitude and are formed of ice crystals. The ISS recently posted a number of photographs of these clouds and pointed out the key feature, which is the bright blue ...
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How long until the stars are no longer visible by the human eye due to light pollution? [closed]
I was curious to how long it will be until the stars are not able to be seen due to light pollution. I started wondering this after reading Yummie's Flash comic Knite.
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How can I make Stellarium match the magnitude of stars visible in London, UK?
Can someone recommend some Stellarium settings to mimic the amount of light pollution, and magnitude of stars that should be visible on a clear night in London, UK?
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Sky Glow calculations
I am leading a project for my High School NASA Club, and am looking for some advice. The goal of our project is to use a Raspberry Pi to control a camera that takes photos of the sky, and uses the ...
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Does the Perseid peak cause enough light pollution to be a problem?
The annual Perseid peak occurs between August 9-14. During this time, about one meteor burns up in the atmosphere per minute.
When these meteorites burn up, they generate light. When you have one of ...
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I live in an area with a lot of light pollution, how can I view the stars without building an observatory?
I live in an urban area with a lot of light pollution and very little garden space. On a clear night I can see most of the sky and the brighter stars are visible.
I can't build an observatory - I don'...
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