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“The park, home to breathtaking sandstone canyons, strange rock formations and dramatic natural bridge, has one of the darkest and clearest night skies in the US making it possible to see in amazing clarity the Milky Way galaxy and millions of stars and planets.”

“During the summer months, the park has a team of nocturnal rangers – affectionately known as ‘Dark Rangers’ – who are specially trained in astronomy and on hand to advise on star gazing opportunities and educate the public about light pollution and how they can make a difference.”

“Many park visitors are astounded when they first see the Milky Way under a dark sky. It isn’t just a faint smudge in the sky, but a bright, intricate river of light which is almost three dimensional.” -  One of the park’s ‘Dark Rangers’

Natural Bridges National Park in Utah, “accredited as the world’s first designated ‘International Dark Sky Park’ by the International Dark Sky Association”, offers some of the most spectacular starry nights in the United States of America. For those that haven’t been, I would highly recommend a visit out there. The park itself offers astonishing day and night time landscape views. The National Park proudly boasts the prestigious title of International Dark Sky Park and boy, do they make every effort to maintain such a title.  Shielded lighting, energy efficient light bulbs, you name it. I must confess, I do caution visitors that your experience may indeed sadden you, for once you return to your respected homes, you may realize something is ‘missing.’ Light pollution is one of the many environmental scourges of modernity. Even though its effects are 100% irreversible, it hasn’t garnered much attention from city planners. If you’re reading this blog post, you at least have some interest in the night sky. You’d be surprised at how a small impact can bring about ubiquitous change. Advocate for dark skies in your community and let your voice be heard.

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“This will be the largest scale introduction of this type of street lighting technology ever seen in Britain and meets with our aim to make Surrey one of the best places in the world to live.” – Dr Andrew Pove, Surrey County Council leader

“The new energy efficient technology is expected to save more than 60,000 tons of carbon emissions over the next 25 years. It is also set to save Surrey taxpayers at least £12 million over the same period due to lower energy bills and a better contract deal. There will also be a reduction in light pollution because the new lights direct their beam downwards. The individual lights can be remotely controlled from a control centre in Merrow, Guildford. At present, Surrey’s street lights are programmed to come on and go off at set times in the day, with little opportunity to make energy savings. But under the new system, lighting will be increased most where it is needed and reduced where it is not.

Congratulations Surry!

Thanks to a “Private Finance Initiative grant worth £73.9 million from central government”, construction has begun to replace Surry’s 89,000 old streetlights with new environmentally sound lighting solutions. The old Orange light high pressurized sodium lights are being replaced by shielded, remotely controlled lights a part of an electronic grid that notifies technicians if a light needs replacement. The entire construction process will take five years to upgrade the preexisting lights, 70,000 of which will be replaced, whereas 19,000 will be refurbished. Public investment into programmes such as this one, allow future generations to see untainted skies as well as increased energy savings. Whilst the initial upfront cost may deter weary adopters, it’s a long-term investment for the future with substantial monetary savings. An added boon of this lighting overhaul programme lies in the increased standard of living. How? The city becomes marketable as a ‘dark-sky’ city, where tourists and residents reap the benefits of pristine night skies. Whilst it may not seem most people care about the night sky, I guarantee that if you show someone a pristine night sky, they’ll remember it. Perhaps they’ll even yearn for it again. Nonetheless, Starry Night Lights wishes to once again congratulate Surry on securing funding to retrofit all their ever increasing anachronistic lighting solutions.

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“Penny pinching and energy saving are both extremely fashionable at the moment, and when the two areas collide you can be sure there’ll be some political reaction, which is why street lighting has come under government review recently.”

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“These unusual looking bits of street furniture will apparently adapt to the environment as they mimic the behaviour of a flower by opening and closing to gather energy. By collecting energy from the sun and wind, the Sustainable City Lights are self powering, but also possess the ability to give back to the grid if it overproduces to help feed other items draining power. They’re also far more energy efficient than regular lights as they use LEDs.

More importantly, however, they have the intelligence to turn down the wick when they are not needed, thanks to proximity sensors that will only activate when a person comes suitably close to require the lighting. This not only makes them more energy efficient, but also reduces light pollution — something the BAA will no doubt strongly approve of.”

Philips has the right idea: energy efficient, self-powering lighting solutions with proximity sensors. Whilst I find the overall concept neat, I fear these lights may give off the same amount of glare found in ‘unshielded’ lighting solutions. Shielding is a very important aspect of any lighting solution. Shielding directs and concentrates the light downward instead of upward. One could have the most energy efficient and high lumen bulb on the planet, but it’s worthless without proper shielding. In essence, shielding is the most important component in reducing light pollution. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun on this concept sketch, but the far right photo worries me. Hopefully, this concept will come to light with 100% shielding and our towns, cities and metropolises will reap the benefits.

The brightest asteroid Vesta reaches opposition this week right next to the beautiful double star Algieba. Credit: Starry Night® Software

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“Vesta is the second largest asteroid, after Ceres, and by far the brightest, having a greater albedo (percentage of light reflected) than any other asteroid. This seems to be partly the result of a collision with another asteroid about a billion years ago. Its mean diameter is 329 miles (529 km), but it is rather irregular in shape because of its violent history.

This week Vesta will be traveling rapidly through Leo. It will be around magnitude 6.2, bright enough to be easily visible in binoculars. However, because of its small diameter and distance, it will appear as a star-like point of light except in the very largest telescopes.”

Pull out the binoculars for the next week!

Asteroid Vesta will reach peak opposition (optimal viewing time) in the constellation Leo tonight and remain visible for a week. Given its magnitude, viewers will be able to see the asteroid with the aid of binoculars in more light polluted skies. For those fortunate enough to have dark skies, the asteroid could very be seen with just the naked eye. Specifically, viewers can spot Vesta in the Leo constellation, about six degrees north-east, in the low eastern sky. Here is a animation and an additional picture to help you find Leo the Lion constellation:

Animation and Image source: admin from zodiac-signs.org

If you miss out on this event, fear not. Vesta makes a rather semi regular appearance roughly every 17 months.

Image source: Astronomy.com

“Full cutoff” lights — as in shielded lamps that don’t send light pollution up into the night sky — are installed at the new Jamestown Medical Clinic off Fifth Avenue in Sequim. — Photo by Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News

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In Washington state, there’s a small coastal town called Sequim. Joe Irvin, a resident of Sequim, decided that he’s had enough of light pollution. Since like minds think alike, Mr. Irvin teamed up with a gentlemen named Pat Clark to help usher in a new city requirement for nonpolluting lights. After attending what seemed like endless amounts of city council meetings, speaking about light pollution and presenting evidence of “published research about its ill effects on human health”, their resolution for ending light pollution has finally passed. All future lighting fixtures must follow be 100% shielded, energy efficient lamps.

The small victories like Sequim help win the war on light pollution. Here are three reasons why you should care about darker skies:

1. Light pollution adversely affects your health.

2. Light pollution pollutes.

3. Glare from lighting is dangerous.

I want to fight light pollution, but how can I do that?

1. Here are some simple steps to follow to help prevent outdoor light pollution.

2. Go to your local city council meetings. Raise concern about light pollution. Write to your local state representatives and senators. Write to the president. Facilitate change.

NASA

North America from Space; NASA

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Maps of brightness illustrate light pollution and energy waste. The blazing lights our satellites photograph while whizzing above us in their orbits, well, that’s light that’s serving no useful purpose (unless you want to think of our glowing cities as a form of art meant for distant eyes). Light seen from space is bouncing off illuminated surfaces, or being shone directly from bulbs aimed up. Neither is helping us on the ground [to] see our cities better. – Alex Steffen

From the pictures above, it’s palpable that the African countries lack an illuminated sky compared to their more industrialized counterparts. Whilst most of Africa remains underdeveloped by industrial Western standards, Africa leads the world in the population density per wasted lumens. Have we, as industrial civilizations, truly progressed or have we truly regressed? Have we lost so fundamentally human that we’ve lost ourselves? I imagine residents of many African nations can enjoy pristine night skies, yet at what cost? Political instability? Social unrest? Famine? Genocide? Nonetheless, Africa is something to think about. Africa has untainted night skies, something even industrialized nations across the globe do not possess. I wonder, if all nations around the globe eliminated light pollution today, how the world would be for the future? Ubiquitously, there would be tremendous Energy savings. This could translate into increased environmental, educational and health funds. Everyone, from children to the elderly, could enjoy the heavens above. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking on my part, I’ll admit, but once you’ve seen a pristine night sky, you yearn for its return. Developed nations have and have had the technology to eradicate light pollution forever. Yet developed nations continue to use dated, inefficient means to achieve a bright, undesired end.

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“Our telescope used to spot stars with magnitudes of 17 or 18. However, at the moment, we are only able to catch magnitudes of 13 or 14.” – Zhao Junliang, the former head of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory.

Another one bites the dust. The Sheshan branch of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory’s second largest optical telescope can no longer participate with other international telescopes. Why? There’s too much light pollution in and around Shanghai. The Sheshan branch of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory lies approximately 23 miles outside of Shanghai on Mount Sheshan, which at the time, proved invaluable to mapping the stars above. Presently, the Sheshan branch of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory is considering remote sensing options in Chile or Hawaii, as well as relocating the observatory to a better suited location. Similar to other nations around the world, China has ignored the effects of light pollution and ruled its effects as ‘inconclusive.’ Whilst the negative health effects of water and air pollution are readily ostensible, nations around the globe haven’t considered the health effects of light pollution due to a lack of palpable evidence. Light pollution affects all life on Earth. Most creatures on the planet, including humanity, functions on a biological clock. This clock, known as the circadian rhythm, is defined in the The American Heritage® Science Dictionary as:

A daily cycle of biological activity based on a 24-hour period and influenced by regular variations in the environment, such as the alternation of night and day. Circadian rhythms include sleeping and waking in animals, flower closing and opening in angiosperms, and tissue growth and differentiation in fungi. See also biological clock.

Furthermore: 

Our Living Language : The circadian rhythm, present in humans and most other animals, is generated by an internal clock that is synchronized to light-dark cycles and other cues in an organism’s environment. This internal clock accounts for waking up at the same time every day even without an alarm clock. It also causes nocturnal animals to function at night when diurnal creatures are at rest. Circadian rhythms can be disrupted by changes in daily schedule. Biologists have observed that birds exposed to artificial light for a long time sometimes build nests in the fall instead of the spring. While the process underlying circadian rhythm is still being investigated, it is known to be controlled mainly by the release of hormones. In humans, the internal clock is located within the brain’s hypothalamus and pineal gland, which releases melatonin in response to the information it receives from photoreceptors in the retina. Nighttime causes melatonin secretion to rise, while daylight inhibits it. Even when light cues are absent, melatonin is still released in a cyclical manner.

Light pollution positively correlates with breast cancer, a decline in sea turtle population and sleep disorders.

Credits for the images

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Can you see the difference? Whilst most individuals may not have a floodlight, the fact remains: unshielded lights waste energy and contribute to light pollution. As population trends continue to rise, it’s inevitable energy consumption will also continue to rise. Expanded population growth will expand the size of towns, cities and metropolises, as well as their general city infrastructure. Presently, the majority of towns, cities and metropolises use 40 year old lighting technologies to light their homes, sidewalks and expressways. Who is this infamous light? Enter high pressured sodium lighting. These unshielded lights emit quite a bit of heat, require high wattage lamps to illuminate the ground and remain woefully inefficient. From an infrastructure standpoint, these lamps have a horrific longevity to energy efficiency ratio yet no alternative ’seems’ to exist. The solution is shielding. When a light is shielded, it directs the light downward, where it’s needed. With the direction of the light in its proper place, one does not require the same watt light lamp found in a high pressured sodium lamp. The reason? High pressure sodium lamps require high wattage lamps to compensate for the loss of light into the heavens or otherwise known as ‘light trespass’ – see figure above. Shielded lighting eliminates that inefficiency and allows for more energy efficient and lower wattage bulbs or lamps to do the ’same’ job. All of these benefits translate into, from an infrastructure perspective, thousands or perhaps millions of dollars in energy savings depending on the size of the settlement. From a human perspective, the benefits of shielded lighting translates into a triumphant return of the night sky. Light pollution is a serious scourge on human and animal health and life. We have the technology to completely, 100%, no ifs or buts, eradicate light pollution entirely. The question lies in if we have the courage, determination and patience to fix it.

Some of the features you can look for during a full moon. Credit: Starry Night Software
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Although the moon poses as an annoyance to astronomers, due to its natural light pollution, I’m sure they’ll and everyone will appreciate the moon tonight. Tonight the moon will reach its perigee, its closet point to the Earth. The moon is not in a circular orbit and thus, we’re allowed to see the moon at such ‘close’ (perigee) and ‘long’ (apogee) range. This will be a moon to remember for the year, for it will appear at its largest. The first full moon of the year has many names, such as Old Moon, Wolf Moon, Moon After Yule, and Ice Moon; in “Hindi it is known as Paush Poornima and its Sinhala (Buddhist) name is Duruthu Poya.”

Image credit: whatis.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/perigee.gif

So what exactly can one see on the moon? Well, for starters, one can find the ‘man on the moon.’ This image of the ‘man on the moon’ forms from the light and shadows across the moon’s face. The darker crevasses on the moon’s face are known as maria (singular mare, Latin for sea), where oceans once existed 4 billion years ago, whereas the lighter areas are the moon’s cratered highlands, where asteroids have battered it for many, many years.

Happy mooning!

BRIGHT LIGHTS: Pittsburgh officials worry that a total switch to LED streetlights will make the streets too bright after dark. (Photo: caseywest/Flickr)

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Admonished by University of Pittsburgh’s Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Pittsburgh, Penn., may replace its high-pressure sodium lights to light-emitting-diode (LED) lamps this upcoming summer. The University found that LED lamps rank substantially higher in longevity than high-pressure sodium lamps. In addition, LED lamps offer a more environmentally solution to lighting due to their higher watt per lumens ratio. Therefore, considering the overall lifespan of an LED lamp, the LED lamp is clearly the superior choice. The University estimated an annual savings of “$1 million annually in energy costs and $700,000 in maintenance fees” and a C02 emissions cut of approximately “6,818 metric tons per year,” if the city switched to LED lamps. Of course, three caveats emerge: blue tint, light pollution and poor heat dissipation.

First, the article states that concentrated light emitted from LED lamps manifests as a blue-tinted light. These concerns are partially true, although I find it prudent to crush these half-truths. It’s true, some LED lamps produce a blue tint. The concern with the blue tint lies in its colour wavelength it emits: blue is a from High-energy visible light (HEV). Most LED lamps are blue / white ‘cool’ LED lights calibrated to emit ‘white’ light – hence the blue tint. Presently, blue ‘cool’ LED lights rank the highest on the energy efficient scale. True ‘white’ warm LED lamps have been an obstacle to match the efficiency of ‘cool’ LED lights but significant strides have been made to make it a reality.

Second, the article states that that concentrated light emitted from LED lamps may produce light pollution. Following the Rayleigh scattering principle, the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by particles with dimensions much smaller than the wavelength of the radiation, resulting in angular separation of colors and responsible for the reddish color of sunset and the blue of the sky, light emitted by blue / white ‘cool’ LED lights would emit more light pollution due the shortened wavelength and higher frequency of blue on the ROYGBIV or electromagnetic spectrum. Scientifically, it’s absolutely correct. Although there is a way to drastically or eliminate light pollution all together: direct the light downward.

Third, the article states that that concentrated light emitted from LED lamps have poor heat dissipation. Poor heat dissipation is a ubiquitous fact for all high-pressure sodium lights; they waste energy and decrease the lifespan of the bulb. This once shortcoming for high-pressure sodium lights, has now become a laudable advantage. Why? An article back in December of last year mentioned how a town switched to Blue / White cool LED lamps for their traffic lights and found that the lamps can not melt snow due to its cool operating temperature. Fortunately, no drivers were harmed. Perhaps when warm LED lights can match the efficiency of cool LED lights, the public will see quite the contrary.

I’ll admit, LED has its limitations. It’s a burgeoning technology that offers tremendous energy savings and advantages over high-pressure sodium lights once the technology matures.

As of now, Pittsburgh, Penn., is one of the few nationwide cities that does not have a lighting code whatsoever.

“Several subcommittees of the Pittsburgh City Council will develop a better streetlight network and, as the city is one of the few nationwide without a lighting code, will propose a Pittsburgh lighting code. Once these analyses and codes are in place, the city will make a final decision regarding the switch. At any rate, Pittsburgh hopes the research study and task force studies will serve as “a standard tool for municipalities worldwide to evaluate streetlight technologies.” The city hopes to begin installation of new lights later this summer.”

At the very least, Pittsburgh will have a lighting code and given their concern for light pollution and safety, their heart is certainly in the right place.