The Illuminati Project Pushes For Dark Skies In 2009 315
An anonymous reader writes "2009 is the 400th anniversary of Galileo's observations of Venus, Saturn and Jupiter published in Sidereus Nuncius ('Starry Messenger'). To improve scientific literacy, the NOAO and NASA are promoting dark-sky initiatives in 2009 to draw attention to the problem of light pollution which obscures nearly all night sky colors and objects except for the moon and a few bright stars and planets. Project Illuminati is a Flickr project by James Cann to showcase the beauty of light pollution to raise awareness and educate fellow Earthmates to lower energy consumption and become more curious about our place in the universe."
It's really amazing how much of a difference (Score:5, Informative)
getting out into the middle of nowhere makes. On a clear night out in Yellowstone, for example, there are so many stars in the sky it can be hard to find constellations you're used to seeing in the city. Really beautiful.
People need to get past the idea that you have to try to illuminate every shadow. All you're doing is ruining people's night vision, and thus making the remaining shadows "darker".
Tucson, AZ tries... (Score:5, Informative)
Tucson has been working on this for years to protect various local observatories. It's also the home to the international dark sky association: http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do [darksky.org]
They have a city ordinance making it illegal to have a light shining upwards - all lights (street lights, security lights, porch lights, etc) have to have a reflector. It's apparently pretty easy to police - bare bulbs are highly visible from the police helicopter.
Seems to be kinda silly to spend your lighting budget trying to illuminate the universe anyway.
Flagstaff (Score:5, Informative)
There is plenty of lighting for the town and yet you can see stars like you should be able to see stars.
Re:Not just about turning off the lights (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The name game (Score:2, Informative)
The (primary) meaning of Illuminati:
1. People claiming to be unusually enlightened with regard to a subject.
Just because people associate a word with something other than its meaning doesn't mean we should stop using the word. In this instance, I think it's quite a clever piece of word-play.
Re:I don't see any s (Score:1, Informative)
You don't see the s? I can see the s just fine.
Re:Red lights (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not just about turning off the lights (Score:3, Informative)
Light pollution is just one of the by-products of industrialization.
Close to my house the Bolte Bridge [wikipedia.org] is a massive source of light pollution because it is illuminated from below by lights which point up. Environmentalists complained, pointing to design standards which specify how such lighting should be done, but noting came of it.
Sometimes we just have to not do stupid things, like pumping light into outer space, which has plenty of light already.
Re:Red lights (Score:5, Informative)
correct. The pupil is effected (affected? - who gives a fsck) by the blue scale. The use of a red light for night time map reading etc allows the pupil to remain open and there is no visibility lost when the light is switched off.
Try for yourself. Get a torch and a red filter and a blue filter. Go out at night and let your eyes get used to the darkness. Shine the torch through the red filter such that you cannot see any white lite. You will be able to see quite well after you switch the torch off. Now try with the blue filter. Once you switch the torch off you will have to wait until your eyes adjust to the darkness again.
Re:Cost of energy (Score:3, Informative)
First off, let's not pretend that light pollution is harmless to human health. The circadian system is at least in part regulated by the amount and type of light that our eyes receive. As for safety, there are several types. As far as traffic goes, street lights are generally positively correlated with safety at intersections, but lighting of roadways between intersections shows mixed results in the studies I've seen.
Back to the main point of your post, though: crime. Ever heard of the Chicago Alley Lighting Project? In 1998, Chicago attempted to test this very theory: that increasing lighting of dark places would reduce crimes like rape and muggings. They took two eight-square-block areas, one for study and one as a control, and tripled the lighting in the study area. Guess what happened? Crime went *UP* in the test area, in all categories -- 77% for property crime, 32% for violent crime, etc -- an overall increase of 40%. The daytime crime rate in the study area dropped 23%. In the control area, nighttime crime only went up 19%, while daytime went down 21%.
Overlighting an area makes the shadows appear darker and makes it easier for criminals to see what they're doing. Extra lighting makes people *feel* safer, but it usually doesn't make them any safer. For public safety, the goal should be not to make as much illumination as possible, but to even out illumination -- not too bright in the bright places, not to dim in the dark places.
Re:I am confused... (Score:3, Informative)
African Environment (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I am confused... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I am confused... (Score:3, Informative)
Blue is great until you get fog. The wavelength of blue light is about the same size as water, so is highly dispersed in foggy conditions. There's a reason why sodium-discharge lamps are so popular in coastal California.
Re:I am confused... (Score:3, Informative)
I live in England, there are very few places, if any, where light pollution does not affect the night sky.
The most remote places I have been to are Pembrook (South Wales) and the lake district. I've seen light pollution, even though it is slight, in both of these places.
In the last 10 or so years the level of light pollution where I live (the edge of the peak district) has noticable increased. I used to be able to make out the milky way very easily at night, but can't see it at all any more. I don't think this is because my eyesight is degrading.
Not everyone has a 'nowhere' to drive to.
Re:Simple Example (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I will inject into this thread (Score:1, Informative)
Try camping in the woods. You won't see shit without a light. Lights also keep dangerous animals like cougars away.
Don't like the light, then go somewhere else.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)