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Close to global coastal megacities (e.g. Tokyo, Shanghai), the natural illumination cycles provided by the moon in the marine environment are considerably disrupted by light pollution, with only nights around the full moon providing greater radiances, and over a given month lunar dosages may be a factor of 6 less than light pollution dosage. [27]
It quantifies the astronomical observability of celestial objects and the interference caused by light pollution. Amateur astronomer John E. Bortle created the scale and published it in the February 2001 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine to help skywatchers evaluate the darkness of an observing site, and secondarily, to compare the darkness ...
Light pollution competes with starlight in the night sky for urban residents, interferes with astronomical observatories, [16] and, like any other form of pollution, disrupts ecosystems and has adverse health effects. [17] [18] [19] Light pollution is a side-effect of industrial civilization. Its sources include building exterior and interior ...
Light pollution dramatically reduces the visibility of stars. The visibility of astronomical objects is strongly affected by light pollution. Even a few hundred kilometers away from a metropolitan area where the sky can appear to be very dark, it is still the residual light pollution that sets the limit on the visibility of faint objects.
Globe at Night is an international scientific research program that crowdsources measurements of light pollution in the night sky. At set time periods within each year, the project asks people to count the number of stars that they can see from their location and report it to the project's website.
The limiting magnitude for naked eye visibility refers to the faintest stars that can be seen with the unaided eye near the zenith on clear moonless nights. The quantity is most often used as an overall indicator of sky brightness, in that light polluted and humid areas generally have brighter limiting magnitudes than remote desert or high altitude areas.
Light pollution is an ever-increasing source of sky brightness in urbanized areas. In densely populated areas that do not have stringent light pollution control, the entire night sky is regularly 5 to 50 times brighter than it would be if all lights were switched off, and very often the influence of light pollution is far greater than natural ...
While all scattered light is polarized to some extent, light is highly polarized at a scattering angle of 90° from the light source. In most cases the light source is the Sun, but the Moon creates the same pattern as well. The degree of polarization first increases with increasing distance from the Sun, and then decreases away from the Sun.