Every year, we spend incredible amounts of cash to light up the sky. Oddly, it's hard to find people who give a second thought to the impact of all the energy wasted lighting up our towns and cities. For astronomers there's a direct relationship to our ability to see the stars. The wasted light thrown upwards from streetlights and other sources makes it difficult to enjoy our beautiful night skies. Not so many years ago in the GTA you could look up at night and see dozens of stars. These days there's a big glow eating up the same skies. In fact, you have to travel by car about 3 hours out of Toronto to really get away from all that light. If we were to use a little more sense with our lighting fixtures much of this problem and expense could be avoided.
Recently, a sampling of the sky glow was conducted by participants all over the world. "The GLOBE at night" survey was a result of 4,591 observations by people of all ages. People were asked to observe and record how the constellation Orion looked from their location. By comparing which stars were visible in the constellation, a sky brightness map was created. Take a look at the link to find out more.
I'm happy to say that a similar survey is being conducted locally by Sara Poirier of the Ontario Science Centre. The STARWATCH program is found on the OSC's website REDSHIFT NOW. I invite everyone to take a look and participate in STARWATCH. It's intersting to see how people's responses depend greatly on their location.
For more information about light pollution and what we can all do to help, a pdf document is available from the Durham Region Astronomical Association. Another great resource is the INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY ASSOCIATION.
Please join the Durham Region Astronomical Association for ASTRONOMY DAY on Saturday May 6th at the PARKWOOD ESTATE in Oshawa. This is the big event for the DRAA. In addition to safe viewing of storms on the sun, we will have an array of telescopes for the public to see Saturn, Jupiter, the Moon and other celestial delights. Indoor displays on astronomy include pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, Videos and a telescope clinic for beginner astronomers.
Picture Credit: NASA
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