Light pollution map for anyone in the USA

Posts : 58 Join date : 2011-08-23

http://sites.google.com/site/3davel/home/light-pollution/lp2001/gmap

Posts : 95 Join date : 2011-08-23 Age : 36

so whats the light brown mean? sell my scopes? lol! Laughing

Posts : 4 Join date : 2011-08-26

astrolover wrote:: so whats the light brown mean? sell my scopes? lol!

It means you must be **** crazy to try and observe there!! Wink

Posts : 4 Join date : 2011-08-26 Age : 41 Location : USA

I saw that when it first came out late last spring. It's interesting stuff. It does more closely correlate to what I see in general but living on the coast I find the degree of sky brightness varies widely according to humidity. Even still the new map is based on really old data. I also expect light pollution to grow dramaticly as citys switch to LED lighting.

Posts : 95 Join date : 2011-08-23 Age : 36

EdwardC wrote:: I saw that when it first came out late last spring. It's interesting stuff. It does more closely correlate to what I see in general but living on the coast I find the degree of sky brightness varies widely according to humidity. Even still the new map is based on really old data. I also expect light pollution to grow dramaticly as citys switch to LED lighting.

So you're saying LP will be worse due to full spectrum lighting?

That'll stink, my LP filter won't work anymore. Sad

Posts : 4 Join date : 2011-08-26 Age : 41 Location : USA

Yes that's what I've heard.

Why don't you drive around and find one and test the filter out. Even setting up a LED flashlight in a darkened room should work as a test.

Posts : 6 Join date : 2011-08-24

I've noticed the LP is substantially worse at JT compared to just a few years ago when I came over on holiday. I think it's due to the spreading development in the Palm Springs area, and perhaps more due to the humidity from the landscaping/irrigation than to the light itself. The transparency just isn't what it used to be.

Posts : 7 Join date : 2011-08-26

Bah, extrapolating from the gradients around the white under the center of which I live, the Bortle level is about -1 or -2 here. The scale only goes down to 1, but let's put it this way - the phase of the moon makes no difference here in southeast Florida.

It's disappointing to see so much more gray and color, especially out west. And there's a little yellow dot where my dark sky site used to be. The term "dark" being relative of course.

But don't worry, when the oil runs out there will be a few years of darkness before we finish building the nuclear plants.

Posts : 4 Join date : 2011-08-26 Age : 41 Location : USA

Ben wrote:: But don't worry, when the oil runs out there will be a few years of darkness before we finish building the nuclear plants.

That should read "many years of darkness". They will also be cold.

Posts : 5 Join date : 2011-08-23

Ben wrote:: Bah, extrapolating from the gradients around the white under the center of which I live, the Bortle level is about -1 or -2 here. The scale only goes down to 1, but let's put it this way - the phase of the moon makes no difference here in southeast Florida.

It's disappointing to see so much more gray and color, especially out west. And there's a little yellow dot where my dark sky site used to be. The term "dark" being relative of course.

But don't worry, when the oil runs out there will be a few years of darkness before we finish building the nuclear plants.

I was looking in to places to observe when I visit Florida in April and I found that Harmony, FL is a town that has lighting ordinances in place and has Bortle 4 skies!! They have a dark sky festival and are in the SW part of Florida. Might be worth a drive!

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