Hi all, I took an astronomy class last semester, and learned a little more about light pollution. A current article in the New Yorker calls attention to what we've lost. Light pollution is relevant to our conservation efforts, too, so I hope you can check out this link:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_owen?currentPage=1 >>Quote from an astronomy list that I'm on: >>In the August 20, 2007 New Yorker there is a fantastic article that sums up >>the whole issue of the loss of the night sky and why some of us (and not >>just astro-nerds like myself) have serious concerns about the onslaught of >>excessive, misdirected and wasteful outdoor lighting. >> >>The photo of the Milky Way in the dark skies over NM alone is worth the >>mouse click. >> >>"The Dark Side: Making War on Light Pollution" by David Owen >> >>"In 1610, Galileo Galilei published a small book describing astronomical >>observations that he had made of the skies above Padua. His homemade >>telescopes had less magnifying and resolving power than most beginners¹ >>telescopes sold today, yet with them he made astonishing discoveries: that >>the moon has mountains and other topographical features; that Jupiter is >>orbited by satellites, which he called planets; and that the Milky Way is >>made up of individual stars. It may seem strange that this last observation >>could have surprised anyone, but in Galileo¹s time people assumed that the >>Milky Way must be some kind of continuous substance. It truly resembled a >>streak of spilled liquidour word 'galaxy' comes from the Greek for milkand >>it was so bright that it cast shadows on the ground (as did Jupiter and >>Venus). Today, by contrast, most Americans are unable to see the Milky Way >>in the sky above the place where they live, and those who can see it are >>sometimes baffled by its name. >> >>The stars have not become dimmer; rather, the Earth has become vastly >>brighter, so that celestial objects are harder to see. Air pollution has >>made the atmosphere less transparent and more reflective, and high levels of >>terrestrial illumination have washed out the stars overhead--a phenomenon >>called 'sky glow.' Anyone who has flown across the country on a clear night >>has seen the landscape ablaze with artificial lights, especially in urban >>areas. Today, a person standing on the observation deck of the Empire State >>Building on a cloudless night would be unable to discern much more than the >>moon, the brighter planets, and a handful of very bright starsless than one >>per cent of what Galileo would have been able to see without a telescope." >> >>Much more: >> >>http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_owen?currentPage=1 _______________________________________________ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
