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https://www.cnet.com/news/reykjavik-turns-off-street-lamps-so-citizens-can-view-the-northern-lights/
The northern lights have been blazing their beauty across Icelandic skies all last week, but it's a lot easier to watch nature's light show if the city lights themselves aren't so darn bright. So, on Wednesday night the Reykjavik city council turned off the lights in parts of the city so residents could ooh and aah at a clearer display.
The city street lights in most neighborhoods were scheduled to go dark between 10 and 11 p.m., though that time was reportedly extended when the northern lights were a little late to the party. Locals were asked to help by keeping the lights off in their homes. They were asked to drive carefully on the darker -than-normal streets, and the fire, police and power company were warned in advance, according to Iceland Monitor.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Webweasel on Monday October 03 2016, @02:51PM
I tried to watch the Perseids this year. I try and watch them every year, but the UK has been overcast in my area for the last 5 years.
It was supposed to be one of the better years, 150 or so an hour. In 3 hours I saw two.
All down to light pollution. The sky glows at night along the horizon due to the street lighting in the neighbouring towns, add in my neighbours who seem to think they need great big floodlights illuminating their garden all night long and I'm lucky if I can see a few stars at all most nights. If I can see Cassiopeia, its a good night.
I think the last time I saw the Milky Way was about 22 years ago.
Will no one think of the poor amateur astronomer?
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 5, Funny) by Kilo110 on Monday October 03 2016, @03:29PM
I've lived on the East Coast US my entire life and never cared for the sky. Maybe a dozen or so stars are visible at night.
Last year I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Japan and climb Mt. Fuji at night. The night sky above the clouds and pollution was breath taking. I've knew academically that there are countless stars visible and I've seen pictures as well. But they do not do the reality justice.
(Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday October 03 2016, @06:22PM
I suspect that was a Funny-Sad mod.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Monday October 03 2016, @04:01PM
I know how you feel, I had the same experience in the UK and the Perseids for the last few years.
And when I had to move back to the big city for work, the light pollution ruined everything. I am lucky to see three stars at night due to the glare.
It is so bad that since moving here 3 years ago, I have not once even bothered taking out my scope. There is not much to see, and I've taken all the pictures of the moon I can really want.
It really killed my hobby, although there are people in London that keep it alive. See here if you are interested: http://www.bakerstreetastro.org/ [bakerstreetastro.org]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 03 2016, @04:14PM
This seems oblig. International Dark Sky Parks [darksky.org]. It looks like there's a few locations in the UK.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday October 03 2016, @11:11PM
Try Las Vegas for awhile. If there is cloud cover at night we have a "second day". It's interesting to try to find a place in Las Vegas in the middle of the night where you can't see anything. Pretty rare find. If there is a full moon, we can't tell the difference either. Plus the Luxor is probably objectively brighter than a full moon, and that's every single night.
I went on a trip to South America once though and can quote SpongeBob, "this isn't your everyday darkness, this is.... advanced darkness". Then they told me there were Jaguars in the jungle and I couldn't pay attention to the stars as well.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday October 03 2016, @06:30PM
Just in the last week, I saw an active aurora Borealis for the first time in as long as I can remember.
Normally, all I see at 55 degrees North, in the city, is a faint green haze.
The other night (at city outskirts but not core) I was able to observe the aurora move and change (still monochromatic though).
I tried capturing video with my cell-phone. Recorded nothing but a black box. CMOS image sensors are dirt cheap, but you need CCD for capturing individual photons.
Should have enjoyed the show instead of messing with the stupid cell-phone. :P
(Score: 2, Informative) by aim on Tuesday October 04 2016, @08:19AM
Umm, no, your problem is with your cellphone's sensor and trying for a movie, not the fact that its CMOS.
Using a standard DSLR (which pretty much all also use CMOS sensors), you can capture an aurora, using a long exposure. It helps if your individual pixels are large (i.e. big sensor), so they have a chance of capturing sufficient photons. That's one reason to go full-frame instead of APS-C or smaller - of course, it risks making the rest of the equipment more expensive too (larger lenses, filters etc.). If you're going for proper astro equipment, you'll also want the sensor cooled.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday October 03 2016, @06:36PM
Good time to mention "The City Dark" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1863406/ [imdb.com] Soon no one will be aware of the stars, only the Moon, the ISS, and Iridium flares, two of which they will consider to be UFOs.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Monday October 03 2016, @09:21PM
I was amazed how many stars I could see when I was younger and moved from a big suburb in Florida to rural Wisconsin. On a clear, cold night it was stunning. I live outside a big city now and looking up at night is just... sad.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Tuesday October 04 2016, @02:38AM
Not just the big cities. Our rural town just did an improvement project where vintage-appearing street lamps (with glass on top to allow upward spill) were installed in addition to replacing the old downward-directed street lights with more efficient versions.
Main Street looks good, but the lights are so bright, they overpower half the night sky if you are looking in its direction, meaning you can only see the eastern sky in the eastern half of town, and the western half if you are standing west of Main.
That the aurora is hidden by the mountains as well is a separate issuek, as is the fact that EVERY astronomy class we've held this year has attracted cloud cover :(
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 04 2016, @04:43AM
Some time around 1968 or 1969 my stepfather was part of a movement of astronomers in and around Tucson, Arizona, to pressure the local government to do something about light pollution.
It is one of the few times I have actually seen the government respond to its citizens in a prompt and positive way. Tucson installed metal coolie hats over every single light in the city, that blocked light going upwards and reflected it downwards - effectively doubling the light where it was needed and perhaps halving the light pollution at the same time.
That was half a century ago. I just checked - https://www.google.com/search?q=tucson+mount+lemmon+light+pollution [google.com] - and I see it's still a problem. Tucson was the only city in the area at the time but there are now many smaller cities surrounding Tucson. Then, there are people who live out in the country - who regulates them?
I see that there's a Pima County code relating to outdoor lighting. But that only works if people WANT to obey the regulations.
Here we see the difference between Northern Europe and the United States - one wants their children to see the stars and learn, the other wants to make a TV show out of it.
More about Mount Lemmon Observatory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lemmon_Observatory [wikipedia.org]
SoylentNews-For-Nerds link: I'm not sure but I think Chuck Moore was stationed at Mount Lemmon when he created the FORTH programming language - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_H._Moore [wikipedia.org] . I know there's a huge FORTH community in Tucson.
~childeaux