Light pollution does more than ruin the night sky...

[Rick]

VIEWPOINT
Dr Darren Baskill

Light pollution is not just a waste of money, argues astronomer Darren Baskill in this week's Green Room. He says badly designed lighting is also having an impact on the environment and our health, as well as denying millions of people the right to enjoy the beauty of the night sky.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4794249.stm

[Mike]

Electric light is one of the greatest advances of the modern world, but, with the rise of light pollution, it has proved to be something of a mixed blessing.
The twinkles of the stars are fewer these days - drowned in the glare of Earthly light sources. Light pollution has become a problem, and not just for astronomers - although they are among the most frustrated with it.

"I think it's terribly important to see the stars," space expert Heather Couper told BBC World Service's One Planet programme.

"You get the impression that what light pollution is doing is knocking out the landscape of what's above us.

"Imagine if you lived on Venus, which is continually veiled with clouds - you'd never see the stars, and you'd be 'landlocked'; you could only look at your own landscape."

For the full story - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6067900.stm

[Mike]

Thanks to Yoko Ono this time for being responsible for ruining the skys over Iceland - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7037111.stm

[Ian]

fantastic  lets all have one. Two months, every year. I'm sure if we can find enough of the right dead musicians we can light the sky up all year round.

[Rick]

A city near Detroit is replacing all the bulbs in its street lighting with LEDs, following similar moves by a town in North Carolina and even Toronto.

The move will bring in savings of $100,000 per year, Ann Arbour city officials said, meaning the investment will pay itself off inside four years.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/18/led_city/

(Wonder what that'll do for light pollution in the area? R.)

[Ian]

I don't think LEDs are continuum emitters. We'll all be buying a different sort of LP filter...

Hopefully as they are more directed, we should see less skyglow anyway. here's hoping. When we get them. In 2100.

[Mike]

An international team of researchers has found another form of light pollution that could have an adverse effect on wildlife.

The scientists showed that as well as direct light sources, polarised light also triggered potentially dangerous changes in many species' behaviour.

They added that road surfaces and glass buildings were among the main sources of this form of light pollution.

The findings appear in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7821298.stm

[Fay]

That is both interesting & disturbing, Mike

[Whitters]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A46986097

[Whitters]

Short clip http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00c5qxd

Full program http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00w1932/Inside_Out_South_East_15_11_2010/

[MarkS]

Light pollution: Is there a solution?

Few people in the UK now have a clear view of the night sky because of light pollution. The fight is on to reclaim the stars, but what are the possible solutions?

Look at the sky at night and what do you see? Not much most probably. Even in the countryside the stars are becoming much harder to spot, with the sky glow caused by light pollution now visible for up to 50 miles (80km).

Only one 10th of the country now enjoys a truly dark sky, says the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which carries out an annual star count. In the 1950s most of us would have been able to see the Milky Way.

Because light at night has brought undisputable benefits, its use has expanded to the point where it is "inescapable", said a Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) into artificial light and the environment.

"We are losing arguably the most culturally universal and historically pristine of all natural vistas," it warned.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16470744

They avoided your plug for the OAS

After last year's Stargazing LIVE I joined the Astronomical Society, saved up for a telescope and now I'm hooked.

Judging from the comments left by readers, it appears that the original text of the article said that Kylee did astrology in her garden.  

[mickw]

NEW YORK — Of all Earth's dwindling natural resources, a beautiful view of the night sky might not be on the top of everyone's list. But a new documentary highlights just what we stand to lose when we can no longer see the stars at night.

Light pollution has serious health and environmental consequences, and it just might wreak some philosophical havoc as well. These issues are explored in entertaining and insightful fashion in the new documentary "The City Dark," opening in New York Jan. 18.

More:   Space.com

[Kylee]

She did originally say I was an Astrologer and joined an Astrological Society....I emailed her as soon as I saw it and corrected it. How very dare she!!!!!!

[Mike]

Muppets. You should email her to ask her to put the word 'Orpington' back in too!!

[Kylee]

I did give her the name....I've tried to plug it on the tv too but it was cut from the final film