Darkest Nights Are Getting Lighter (ieee.org)
- Reference: 0179327262
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/17/187256/darkest-nights-are-getting-lighter
- Source link: https://spectrum.ieee.org/scale-of-light-pollution
Satellite constellations pose additional challenges: numbers have increased from hundreds decades ago to 12,000 currently operating satellites. Astronomers predict 100,000 or more satellites within a decade. Chile faces pressure from proposed mining operations including the 7,400-acre INNA green-hydrogen facility near key astronomical sites despite national laws limiting artificial light from mining operations that generate over half the country's exports.
[1] https://spectrum.ieee.org/scale-of-light-pollution
Visiting the moon to see they Milky Way (Score:2)
Eventually seeing the Milky Way will only be something people read about in stories or have to take trips beyond the satellite cloud to actually see with their own eyes.
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That's already mostly true. The last time I could clearly see it was in my childhood on a remote country gravel road. Even now, driving to that same spot I can't even see very many stars.
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I lived in the Mountain West for 25 years. During that time I took for granted that I could see the milky way if I drove out the city for an hour. And really, really see if if I drove for a few more. In the years I've lived elsewhere I have seen the Milky Way only a handful of times. And all but one time it involved an airplane to get to the place where I could. Given most people in the world live in urban areas which are not surrounded by vast undeveloped areas, you are probably right it is already the cas
Re: Visiting the moon to see they Milky Way (Score:2)
Even in the rural Midwest, farms have much more night lighting than undeveloped land out west.
Gas stations (Score:2)
These days, gas stations don't just light up the area where the pumps are. They deliberately attach very bright lights to their canopies, aimed at nearby traffic, so drivers see a bright glare. I suppose they are hoping it will seem attractive to said drivers.
These gas stations are a problem even in rural areas.
Clamp down on them, and probably 50% of the problem is gone.
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What's weird is having sign height ordinances and not having rules about lighting. Unlike tall signs, this is literally an eyesore while driving at night. Have to look away.
Seems counter-intuitive (Score:2)
LED lights are extremely directional, to the point it can be difficult getting them to diffuse like an incandescent bulb. Most streetlights (and now, lights in sports stadiums, parking lots and the like) are extremely directional, pointing straight down and having abrupt drop-off in illumination around the periphery. In fact, in my town, streetlights that are being replaced with LED are not as good because they don't cover as large of an area or fade out on the edges in a more natural way. They almost look
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I've noticed that fade out effect not being there on street lights. I hadn't put that together until you just spelled it out though. I don't know if it's just because it was "different back then" but I don't like the extreme change, versus how it use to naturally fade.
I am surprised we are putting off MORE light then we were though. I keep reading how we are actively trying to push back on light pollution, so that's yet another distressing thing that's happening.
I definitely remember seeing a lot more stars
I've brought europeans (Score:2)
where I live, they can't believe there are so many stars. They have never seen the milky way.
Lost Cause (Score:5, Insightful)
Outside of a very small community (of which I am a member) this won't even register as a problem, let alone motivate a sizeable number of people to do anything about it. Our species lacks the will to even stop literally poisoning ourselves.
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Hear, hear! They upgraded the street light outside my home last year, and now the light is so nice and bright that I'm pulling down a lot of supplementary income doing night dentistry on the sidewalk. I'm not licensed, but I don't need to be, it's so bright.
To human priorities!
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It sounds like a Musk Huffer. Which is the same thing, I guess.
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Bless your simple little heart.
Evidence Suggests Otherwise (Score:2)
> More light directly translates into lower crime rates and higher social activity and human happiness.
Really? The article points out that the amount of light we generate has more than doubled since 2011 and somehow I don't feel that human happiness levels have increased or that crime has decreased and while perhaps social activity has increased a fair amount of that seems to be people protesting about how unhappy they are so I'm not sure it helps your claim.
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> Outside of a very small community (of which I am a member) this won't even register as a problem, let alone motivate a sizeable number of people to do anything about it. Our species lacks the will to even stop literally poisoning ourselves.
There are just too many things to be outraged about these days. I can either be a tiny bit outraged at a whole bunch of things, or I can be really outraged at a handful of things and simply not care about the rest. My personal negativity setting does not go high enough to be really outraged about everything.
And either way, this one is definitely low on my list.