Hopefully this has not been posted, I didn't see any Topic Titles that seemed to fit.
I was lookiong at APOD to relax a bit before bed tonight and found this pic that is a few days old. ICK is all I can say about that picture.
Established Member
Hopefully this has not been posted, I didn't see any Topic Titles that seemed to fit.
I was lookiong at APOD to relax a bit before bed tonight and found this pic that is a few days old. ICK is all I can say about that picture.
Established Member
It's a great picture, even if light pollution sucks.
You could always move to Tibet, or Greenland, or the Sahara. :wink:
Honored Member
Glad to be in one of the dark spots.Originally Posted by AZgazer
BTW, this photo was the subject of a chain email back when it first came out. The email claimed the photograph was "...an absolutely awesome picture of the Earth taken from the Boeing built Space Station last November on a perfect night with no obscuring atmospheric conditions."
Neat trick, eh? Almost as interesting as the claim that the ISS was 100% American-made, specifically by Boeing! :roll:
Established Member
Well, that's just the visible light sources. Actual light pollution follows pretty closely, but not exactly. link
What's most important from this info, however, is that I live a scant 30 minutes drive from some of the darkest skies on the continent, yet am still only 5 minutes from the downtown core of a major west coast city ;)
Established Member
It's freaky when you're driving into town in the middle of the night, and all you see is a massive bulging haze of light in front of you.
Order of Kilopi
It's sad that you can see Bermuda in that picture even though the island is only 22 square miles. The island is so developed I'm not sure truly dark skies can be found here (unless you go out on a boat but that makes using a telescope difficult).
Established Member
I'm amazed that I can actually pick out local towns.
Aside from Sydney/Glace Bay/New Waterford/North Sydney/Sydney Mines (all of which are represented by a single blob), I can pick out Ingonish, Cheticamp, Inverness, St. Peters, and Port Hood/Port Hastings.
Established Member
I can pick out my town too!
I'm that little blob on the north-west shore of Lake Superior.
Order of Kilopi
Yeah, you can do that in New Brunswick as well, basically being able to identify each of the highways by the line of lit communities along them.
Established Member
Are you surprised that you can differentiate it from the other towns? Or because it's so small? I always assumed Thunder Bay was pretty large. Maybe just because it's always mentioned on the Weather Network. Hehe.
On the topic of the picture: The Nile is amazing! I wish I had noticed that earlier. It must be lit up like a Christmas Tree for hundreds of miles, and then the light just suddenly stops (yet you can still see it going down the continent).
Established Member
Well the population is 120,000 here, so it's a small city. What differentiates Thunder Bay from the rest of the blobs is that it's just 1 blob kind of in the middle of no where. There's no other cities or towns around here of significant size for about 400Km. Duluth, MN which is at the western tip of Lake Superior would be the closest city, followed by Winnipeg which is around 700Km west from here.
Edited for clarity
Established Member
120,000? Is that all? That's just the entire population of all Cape Breton Island. Hehe.
The northern coast of the Mediterranean is awfully illuminated, too. I'm actually really offput by how continuous the lights are in some places.
Established Member
I actually had a friend from Cape Breton. I worked with him in Winnipeg and here as well. His name is John MacPherson(sp?), ring a bell?
Notice how the highest densities are all along the shore lines? Goes to show you how much we rely on water for transportation among other things. The US appears to be the only country to make an exception to this rule though.
Another interesting thing to point out is how the two most populated countries; China and India have hardly any light density at all. This goes to show how underdeveloped they are. Africa looks pretty dim too.
Japan on the other hand looks like it could melt some polar ice caps.
Established Member
John McPherson? The only more generic name I can think of is Mike McDonald. So...umm...I don't know. Maybe?
Africa's really, really dark. And where's Mongolia? Someone must live there.
Established Member
A lot of thouse US cities are on rivers though. The rest you could overlay an old railroad map on and see correlations. Speaking of, you can tell the route of the Trans-Siberia Railroad in Russia.
Established Member
I can see several cities on there too: Atlanta, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Huntsville, Birmingham, et al.
I have (or had) a really huge version of that pic at one time. I ought to set it back as my desktop one of these days.
Established Member
Doh!
I didn't stop to think of how common of a name that would be in your neck of the woods. #-o
Established Member
Ok, I am giong to ask something that makes perfect sense to me, but maybe not to everyone else.
I want to stop the light pollution. I want Astronomers to be able to see and not have to truck out 1,000 miles to get a dark sky. What to do?
Cities need some light at night, and I suppose the people in Las Vegas just have to have big gaudy signs.
But what about just going to all the streetlights, and putting little hoods on them with reflective insides? Facing down? Like the ones I see on older lights near my building?
This accomplishes several things:
1. The light needs to be on the street and not in the sky. If you direct more of it to the ground it is far more useful.
2. Fewer streetlights = less expensive to build them and less energy used to boot. Saves $$$$!
3. Doesn't bother the neighbors. If you have ever lived in a second-floor apartment with a light outside, you know what I mean. Especially if your bedroom is there.
Are people just really attached to lighting the way for people from orbit?
This simple solution has the merit of being inexpensive -- no new technology, no fancy stuff that breaks, and you can keep your existing lights -- just nail on a hunk of scrap metal with one side polished and that would do it. The labor cost of retrofitting lights is there, but you could do it as you replace the bulbs which yuo have to do every now and then anyhow.
Are there any cities that have tried this?
Established Member
Yeah. London circa 1940.
Established Member
Have a look at the International Dark-Sky Association. They've been working with communities to do just whay you are suggesting.
Vulcan Administrator
I read a book a while back with a chapter about how San Diego (with Mount Palomar) had been very good about controlling light pollution until somebody ran for mayor (and won) with the platform including eliminating the restrictions on light pollution because it was costing money.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Established Member
Or rather wasn't costing enough money?I read a book a while back with a chapter about how San Diego (with Mount Palomar) had been very good about controlling light pollution until somebody ran for mayor (and won) with the platform including eliminating the restrictions on light pollution because it was costing money.
Established Member
A few days?
That's from August, two years ago. And even then, it was a repeat from two years before that. Great stuff.
Established Member
Ok, I hate light pollution as much as anyone and am an IDA member first off. But despite this whenever I look at a picture like that showing the Earth at night I can't help but cheer for us humans who dare to confront the stars, and be humbled by its beauty.
Am I nuts or does anyone else think that sometimes?
Vulcan Administrator
Isn't there some interesting new stuff in the sky, or are they trying to make a point? This reminds me of when Ann Landers was caught recycling old letters.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Insert awesome title here
There's a message there. We conquered the night, we'll conquer everything else.
Established Member
India looks about as bright as eastern Europe, or the midwest USA.Another interesting thing to point out is how the two most populated countries; China and India have hardly any light density at all. This goes to show how underdeveloped they are. Africa looks pretty dim too.
Japan on the other hand looks like it could melt some polar ice caps.
It's North Korea that's interesting. It looks like there's only one lightbulb in the entire countryIt's pretty much only detectable because you know South Korea isn't an island.
Established Member
LOL, I just hit previous day on the picture. Suppose I should read the fine print, hehe. The picture is strikingly pretty, however it was the quantity of light that umm shocked me so much that I didn't even see the fine print. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :P)
Here in Champaign-Urbana our Club CUAS is preparing to wage light war on the surrounding communities. One of our members is putting the polishing touches on our presentation. All that is left is to make some noise and hopefully a difference.
Established Member
Am I the only one that read this and imagined some kind of reduced death military operation? "It's War Light! Now with 50% less casualties!" Instead of shooting at the enemy, you just throw big rocks or something...
Established Member
Someone suggested a Sniper Team to um engage the "enemy." I strongly lobbied for approval, but alas cooler heads prevailed.We shall try diplomacy...
*looks over shoulder before opening secret LP map*
:wink:
The above mentioned Sniper Team & map are purely fictional and in no manner reflect actual events or the position of the Board Owner or the CUAS.
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