Skyglow (or sky glow), is a kind of light pollution, visible by the "glowing" effect seen in the skies over many cities and towns. Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excess or obtrusive Light created mainly by Humans Among other effects
Skyglow often refers to man-made light, but the term also includes natural sources of diffuse nighttime light, such as the zodiacal light, light from faint stars, and natural air glow emitted high in the atmosphere[1]. The zodiacal light is a faint roughly triangular whitish glow seen in the night sky which appears to extend up from the vicinity of the Sun along the Ecliptic The airglow is the very weak emission of light by the Earth's atmosphere; as a result the night sky is never completely dark
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Negative effects
Skyglow, and more generally light pollution, has many diverse negative effects, from aesthetic diminishment of the beauty of a star-filled sky, through energy and resources wasted in the production of excessive or uncontrolled lighting, to impacts on birds (see Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP)) and other biological systems[2], including humans. Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excess or obtrusive Light created mainly by Humans Among other effects Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. Skyglow is a prime problem for astronomers, because it reduces contrast in the night sky to the extent where it may become impossible to see all but the brightest stars. Historically Astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky while Astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena About CONTRAST CONTRAST is a Multidisciplinary alliance bringing together key skills and expertise to generate new knowledge on biological environmental Bright stars are bright because they have high luminosities and/or they are nearby It is a widely held misunderstanding that professional astronomical observatories can "filter out" certain wavelengths of light (such as that produced by low-pressure sodium) - it is more accurate to say that by leaving large portions of the spectrum relatively unpolluted, the narrow-spectrum emission from low-pressure sodium lamps allows more opportunity for astronomers to "work around" the resulting light pollution[3]. A sodium vapor lamp is a Gas discharge lamp which uses Sodium in an excited state to produce Light An element's 'emission spectrum' is the relative intensity of Electromagnetic radiation of each Frequency it emits when it is Heated (or more generally when A sodium vapor lamp is a Gas discharge lamp which uses Sodium in an excited state to produce Light Even when such lighting is widely used, skyglow still interferes with astronomical research as well as everyone's ability to see a natural star-filled sky.
Due to skyglow, people who live in or near urban areas see thousands fewer stars than in an unpolluted sky, and commonly cannot see the Milky Way. The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias sometimes referred to simply Fainter sights like the Zodiacal light and the Andromeda Galaxy are nearly impossible to discern even with telescopes. The zodiacal light is a faint roughly triangular whitish glow seen in the night sky which appears to extend up from the vicinity of the Sun along the Ecliptic The Andromeda Galaxy (ænˈdrɒmədə also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224; often referred to as the Great Andromeda
Causes
There are several causes of sky glow. These causes mainly differ in source. For example, public lighting provides a different form of light pollution than attention-grabbing strobe lamps, and these differ from commercial lighting installations. Light from electric lamps shines directly upward into the atmosphere from poorly shielded fixtures, and reflects from surfaces like the ground or streets into the sky. " Electric Light " is a song by Infernal, scheduled to be their next single after " Whenever You Need Me " off their album Electric An atmosphere (from Greek ατμός - atmos, " Vapor " + σφαίρα - sphaira, " Sphere " Some of this light is then scattered in the atmosphere by molecules and aerosols back toward the ground, causing skyglow. In Chemistry, a molecule is defined as a sufficiently stable electrically neutral group of at least two Atoms in a definite arrangement held together by Technically an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas
Mechanism
There are two causes of the light scattering that lead to airglow: scattering from molecules such as N2 and O2 (called Rayleigh scattering), and that from aerosols, called Mie scattering. Rayleigh scattering (named after Lord Rayleigh) is the elastic Scattering of Light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller Technically an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas Mie theory, also called Lorenz-Mie theory or Lorenz-Mie-Debye theory, is a complete analytical solution of Maxwell's equations for the Scattering Rayleigh scattering is much stronger for short-wavelength (blue) light, while scattering from aerosols is little affected by wavelength. In most places, most particularly in urban areas, aerosol scattering dominates, due to the heavy aerosol loading caused by modern industrial processes and transportation. Technically an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas Rayleigh scattering makes the sky appear blue in the daytime; the more aerosols there are, the less blue or whiter the sky appears. Rayleigh scattering (named after Lord Rayleigh) is the elastic Scattering of Light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller When the air is clear and relatively free of aerosols, blue or white light (for example from metal halide lamps and fluorescent lamps) contributes significantly more to sky-glow than an equal amount of yellow light (for example from high- and low-pressure sodium vapor lamps). Metal halide lamps, a member of the High-intensity discharge (HID family of lamps produce high light output for their size making them a compact powerful and efficient A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a Gas-discharge lamp that uses Electricity to excite mercury Vapor. A sodium vapor lamp is a Gas discharge lamp which uses Sodium in an excited state to produce Light Another effect that makes skyglow from white light sources worse than from yellow arises from the Purkinje effect, where the eye becomes more sensitive to bluer/whiter light when adapted to low light levels, as experienced under night time conditions. The Purkinje effect (sometimes called the Purkinje shift, or dark adaptation and named after the Czech Anatomist Jan Evangelista Purkyně A simple metric for first effect is the Rayleigh Scatter Index, discussed in a brief article[4] and a 2003 presentation to both the International Dark-Sky Association Conference and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America,[5] which indicates that high pressure sodium sources produce roughly one-third to one-half of the skyglow compared to the output of typical metal halide sources, based on the same amount of light entering the atmosphere and pure Rayleigh scattering. The International Dark-Sky Association ( IDA) is a US-based Non-profit organization incorporated in 1988 by founding members including an astronomer a medical The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America ( IESNA is a non-profit Learned society founded in New York City on January 10, 1906. When the Purkinje effect is also considered the effect is magnified, to where yellow sources can produce as little as one-eighth the skyglow of an equivalent output white light source, particularly when the observer is located at some distance from the light pollution source, the sky is darker, and the eye more completely dark adapted. The Purkinje effect (sometimes called the Purkinje shift, or dark adaptation and named after the Czech Anatomist Jan Evangelista Purkyně
Measuring sky glow
Astronomers have used the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale to measure sky glow ever since it was published in Sky & Telescope magazine. The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale is a nine-level numeric measure of the night sky brightness of a particular location Sky & Telescope (S&T is an American monthly Magazine covering all aspects of Amateur astronomy, including current events in [6] The Bortle Scale rates the darkness of the sky, inhibited by sky glow, on a scale of one to nine, providing a detailed description of each position on the scale. The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale is a nine-level numeric measure of the night sky brightness of a particular location
References
- ^ F. E. Roach and Janet L. Gordon (1973). "The Light of the Night Sky". D. Reidel (Dordrecht-Holland/Boston-USA).
- ^ C. Rich, T. Longcore (eds. ) (2006). "Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting". Island Press (Washington; Covelo; London).
- ^ C. B. Luginbuhl, in "Preserving the Astronomical Sky," IAU Symposium No. 196, eds. R. J. Cohen and W. T. Sullivan, III , pp. 81-86, 2001 (2001). ""Why Astronomy Needs Low-Pressure Sodium Lighting"". PASP, San Francisco, USA.
- ^ IDA/IESNA Article on Skyglow. Retrieved on 2007-12-11. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office
- ^ IDA/IESNA Powerpoint on Skyglow. Retrieved on 2007-12-11. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office
- ^ Bortle, John E. . "Observer's Log — Introducing the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale", Sky & Telescope, February 2001. February 2001: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September
See also
- Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS)
External links
- Skyglow: the effect of poor lighting (CfDS) (examples of skyglow in the UK)
- Skyglow across the Great Lakes (examples of skyglow in the US)
- Filtering Skyglow (from CCD cameras)
- Towns and Skyglow (UK skyglow image collection)
- What Blue Skies Tell Us About Light Pollution (an article introducing the Rayleigh Scatter Index which evaluates the potential for contribution to skyglow by different light sources)
- Sources, Surfaces and Scatter (a presentation from 2003 to the IDA Conference and the IESNA Roadway Lighting Committee on atmospheric scatter and the potential for contribution to skyglow by different light sources)
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