World Atlas of the Night Sky
This is an image of the amount of light pollution that can be found around the world in the night sky. It represents many billions of dollars wasted annually. It also represents the waste of huge quantities of our diminishing energy reserves (plus needless greenhouse gas emissions). Clearly the highest percentage of light pollution can be found in industrial nations, mostly coming from the US, Western Europe, East Asia. What this means is that in these areas, there are great amounts of excessive lighting that shine up into the night sky and give the night sky the appearance of having a hazy glow, known as sky glow. Sky glow, occurs mostly in cities where outdoor lighting is most frequently used, without night friendly lighting fixtures. All of this excess light does absolutely nothing to improve night time visibility (the primary reason for lights in the first place).
The amount of light pollution around the world has been recorded by the Defense Metereological Satellite Program (DMSP) of the United Stated Air Force, since the early seventies. The measurement is based on upward light emitted in these areas of heavy lighting on the Earth’s surface. Since the late 1990s quantitative information has been made available on these materials. These satellites give only information on the amount of light emitted, they do not discuss the effects of excessive nighttime lighting on the Earth.
There are many different forms and ways to view light pollution on Earth, using different instuments. These purpose of these instruments and these studies, is not to merely see the amount of light pollution on Earth, but to raise awareness on a very significant issue, light pollution. In the most simplest form, one can simply look up into the sky and see the bright, cloudy appearance that the night-sky has in overly lit areas. Unfortunately sky glow, and light pollution is growing and spreading even into more rural areas. Maps of naked eye stellar visibility prove these facts, as they show the disappearing amount of stars visible to the naked eye.
Starry Night Lights is a company dedicated to preserving the night-sky, and the privilege of looking into sky and seeing the stars and wonders of the sky. We carry outdoor lighting products that allow you to light your home in the way that you please, while at the same time protecting the environment and the privacy of you neighbors. Our lights are guaranteed to light needed areas and are designed to face downward and not upward into the night sky.
In order to get more information on light pollution, its growth and effects check out these links:
www.lightpollution.it/worldatlas/pages/fig2.htm
www.DarkSky.org
This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 2:34 am and is filed under Astronomy, Light Pollution, Outdoor Lighting, Sky Glow, Starry Night Lights, environment, global warming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response to “World Atlas of the Night Sky”
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June 19th, 2008 at 3:01 am
To see the photo of the Earth at Night boggles the mind when I think about how much energy and money is wasted around the world to send light into outer space - and let’s not forget about the approximately 40-million tons of greenhouse gasses that are added to our atmosphere annually contributing to global warming.
I always try to use common sense explaining fixtures that allow light to be directed above horizontal. For instance let’s examine an ordinary “backyard security light.” These unshielded glarebombs will waste 40% of their light sideways and into the night sky. But since we’re on the ground below the fixture(s), the only Photons (light) that reaches us HAS TO TRAVEL DOWNWARD, BELOW HORIZONTAL! So when we use fully-shielded fixtures for streets, parking lots, and yards that direct all of the light downward, none of the light (energy) is wasted!! Now that’s extremely smart lighting!