DC Tom Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I'm still pissed about light pollution. I remember being at a friend's house who lives deep in the country away from most of the light pollution and the sky is about a quarter of what that picture shows. It's an incredible sight. Lying on your back you can see so much more and it's really, really cool. Wanna be more pissed? Take a look at your average street light (hell, any outdoor light) and look at how much light is directed up where it illuminates precisely nothing. Not only does it wash out the sky, it's completely wasted electricity. In college, one of the alumni class donations was to put decorative lights down a road in front of the observatory "for safety". The decorative design they chose, however, directed all the light up, rather than down. Didn't add to safety, insanely wasteful, made the observatory completely useless...and were so stupidly bright that small planes would mistake it for an airfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Wanna be more pissed? Take a look at your average street light (hell, any outdoor light) and look at how much light is directed up where it illuminates precisely nothing. Not only does it wash out the sky, it's completely wasted electricity. In college, one of the alumni class donations was to put decorative lights down a road in front of the observatory "for safety". The decorative design they chose, however, directed all the light up, rather than down. Didn't add to safety, insanely wasteful, made the observatory completely useless...and were so stupidly bright that small planes would mistake it for an airfield. but think of the soft light you'll get when it diffuses off of the moon back onto the street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ieatcrayonz Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I'm still pissed about light pollution. I remember being at a friend's house who lives deep in the country away from most of the light pollution and the sky is about a quarter of what that picture shows. It's an incredible sight. Lying on your back you can see so much more and it's really, really cool. How can we fix this? Should we ban electricity? P.S. The part in bold went right over Sage's head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 How can we fix this? Should we ban electricity? Only we call it "cap and trade". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 How can we fix this? Should we ban electricity? The Canadians seem to have found a solution. Whenever I am way up north I notice far less light pollution. Of course, the Canadians are a very intelligent people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacka Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 In San Jose, near Lick Observatory (where some of the first extrasolar planets were discovered), the street lights are low powered and very orange to cut down on light pollution on Mt. Hamilton , where the Observatory is. Mars ain't the kind of place to raise a kid. in fact it's cold as hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 In San Jose, near Lick Observatory (where some of the first extrasolar planets were discovered), the street lights are low powered and very orange to cut down on light pollution on Mt. Hamilton , where the Observatory is. Mars ain't the kind of place to raise a kid. in fact it's cold as hell. Low-pressure sodium lamps, probably. High-pressure sodium are a brighter color, and emit light in a wider spectrum. LPS only emit in a few easily filterable frequencies...and are more efficient. People like HPS more, though, because they're whiter. The human eye just doesn't see as well at the lower end of the spectrum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Wanna be more pissed? Take a look at your average street light I have never let a streetlight or a telephone pole piss me off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ieatcrayonz Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 The Canadians seem to have found a solution. Whenever I am way up north I notice far less light pollution. Of course, the Canadians are a very intelligent people. Canadians are dim bulbs but not in the literal sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I have never let a streetlight or a telephone pole piss me off. Well then you don't have to worry about being more pissed, do you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Well then you don't have to worry about being more pissed, do you? Well, I can't be less pissed so I suppose that means I can only be more pissed so maybe I should worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delete This Account Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 If it wasn't for all of the light pollution here that's how the earths night sky would look. wanna talk about pollution, you should see Uranus ... sorry, couldn't resist. jw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Not quite. That's a long exposure picture. Note the streaking stars. Living in a big city and being a hobbyist astronomer, I am sensitive to light pollution. It's terrible and a long ways from being on anyone's radar. I was gonna comment on that too... Thanx! What they were showing were raw images with a lot of hot pixels, even the article mentioned that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Low-pressure sodium lamps, probably. High-pressure sodium are a brighter color, and emit light in a wider spectrum. LPS only emit in a few easily filterable frequencies...and are more efficient. People like HPS more, though, because they're whiter. The human eye just doesn't see as well at the lower end of the spectrum. I don't know really how much whiter the high pressure are compared to the low-pressure... We use over aound 50 sodium HPS bulbs in the light standards at work and they look very orange to me... (I am looking out the window right now) Maybe the globes are dirty?... I guess I know what I should be doing when I get on day shift... Cleaning globes and causing more light pollution! I guess they are better than the original Hg vapor bulbs they used to use years back. Let me digress, I am bored and it is early! : Oh, and all you "light pollution nuts"... I can turn the lights off, but do you want me to get mugged! And anyway, I think the planes from the east use us as marker when flying into Midway... They literally follow the river from the lower end to the upper end... Everytime I fly back from BFLO into Midawy, I get a nice aerial view of the lock and controlling works. One time I flew in and the pilot was running behind and stepped it up to get in on time... We flew lower than usual over this place. A guy at work actually noticed it, said: "Man you should have seen the big orange plane come low!" I said: " I was on it! I saw you locking an upbound pleasure boat." He laughed. Years ago (1980's) they (Daley) wanted to fill in Lake Calumet (terminus of the SeaWay and home to Chicago International Port) and build an airport here... Then Midway was upgraded. Here is a picture of the place... I never knew we were the poster child in Wiki (of course the article is wrong, we are in Chicago not Burnham, IL) for "Control Lock!" Control Lock TJO L/D Contolling Lock Closeup Old picture... Looking downbound/southbound/east-southeast... Pre-1998, I know by where certain structures are located. Notice all the light standards and subsequent light pollution melded into the mass of the rest of the region. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Oh, and all you "light pollution nuts"... I can turn the lights off, but do you want me to get mugged! Yes. But there are light designs that direct most of their light down, where they actually illuminate the ground, rather than up, where the light's not doing anything. "Light pollution" isn't "too much light" as much as it is "light directed in the wrong place". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steely Dan Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 wanna talk about pollution, you should see Uranus ... sorry, couldn't resist. jw (In my best Oscar LeRoy) Jackass! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delete This Account Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 (In my best Oscar LeRoy) Jackass! glad someone finally got it ... jw or better (probably worse) chose to acknowledge it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 If it wasn't for all of the light pollution here that's how the earths night sky would look. ..or our atmosphere. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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