Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
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Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
That aligns well with what I see at my observing sites. Not good news for astronomy.
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Delos, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Solar: HA: Lunt 50mm single stack, W/L: Meade Herschel wedge.
Observing: DSOs: 3122 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2196, S110: 77). Doubles: 2461, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 261
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
- Bigzmey
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Delos, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Solar: HA: Lunt 50mm single stack, W/L: Meade Herschel wedge.
Observing: DSOs: 3122 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2196, S110: 77). Doubles: 2461, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 261
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
No wonder
All the best for clear skies
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
For me the massage is don't skip observing to watch TV, TV is not going anywhere, dark sky is. Now I am even more motivated to squeeze as many galaxies out of Anza sky as I can.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Delos, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Solar: HA: Lunt 50mm single stack, W/L: Meade Herschel wedge.
Observing: DSOs: 3122 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2196, S110: 77). Doubles: 2461, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 261
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
When I was younger I could see the Milky Way easily.
I went from a sky 3 to 9 in just a few decades.
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
I just put a notice into the power company seeing if they can convert it to a motion detection model like some others in the neighborhood.
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
At our dark site, despite being the least populated county in the state, tucked away in a valley with multiple ridge lines between us and significant population centers, and no localized industry, things have degraded slightly. It was a solid
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
Fortunately Alan you have a dark sky respite!!!kt4hx wrote: ↑Sat Nov 18, 2023 2:20 am A far too common problem for the majority of us. A few years ago, our backyard was a solid Bortle 5 and I could do galaxy hunting with my 12 inch. Now it is a solid Bortle 6 and galaxy hunting is far more challenging. They continue to build both homes and businesses out our way, so that slow light creep has finally caught up to me.
At our dark site, despite being the least populated county in the state, tucked away in a valley with multiple ridge lines between us and significant population centers, and no localized industry, things have degraded slightly. It was a solid Bortle 3 that would on occasion dip to a B2 level. I no longer see that occasional improvement to B2 levels. However, it remains on average a solid B3. I am thankful for that, and I anticipate at my age it will remain a viable environment for galaxy hunting for as long as I am able to ge there and move the scope out of the garage.
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
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- OzEclipse Online
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
Agreed, I would not skip observing to watch TV but I would skip observing for a massage
In 1994, I moved from a rented property 2km from the city centre of Canberra, to buy a place 8km from the centre. Canberra's current city population is 400,000. I also had another observing location just past the urban fringe 15km from the city.
................................YEAR..............
Distance...........1994................2023
2km..............Bortle6...........Not assessed
8km..............
15km............
The urban fringe site is still urban fringe but suburban development is now lapping at the door. In 1994 it was 5km away.
This is from the World
.
These pictures are from the same location looking towards and away from Canberra from 40km from the city centre. .
Three years ago(2020), I moved to my current dark sky property 160km from Canberra, the sky varied from
However there is more particulates in the air and the proportion of high transparency nights to lower transparency nights, at least around new moons, anecdotally seems to have dropped. It is not something I have actively tracked. Over the first couple of years, we had record rains during the La Niña. This has the effect of clearing the air and lowering the
Another more scientific article on the progress of light pollution
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1 ... tQjgbkqiuk
Joe
Amateur astronomer since 1978...................Web site : http://joe-cali.com/
Scopes: ATM 18" Dob, Vixen VC200L, ATM 6"f7, Stellarvue 102ED, Saxon ED80, WO M70 ED, Orion 102 Maksutov, ST80.
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
Nice account of your light pollution Joe.OzEclipse wrote: ↑Wed Nov 22, 2023 11:45 pmAgreed, I would not skip observing to watch TV but I would skip observing for a massage
In 1994, I moved from a rented property 2km from the city centre of Canberra, to buy a place 8km from the centre. Canberra's current city population is 400,000. I also had another observing location just past the urban fringe 15km from the city.
................................YEAR..............
Distance...........1994................2023
2km..............Bortle6...........Not assessed
8km..............Bortle 4............Bortle 6/7
15km............Bortle 2/3..........Bortle 5/6
The urban fringe site is still urban fringe but suburban development is now lapping at the door. In 1994 it was 5km away.
This is from the WorldLP survey, 2015. I would expect the sky from my old rental property 2km north of the city would be aBortle 8 now.
Canberra-LP .jpg.
Bortle 2 skies overhead and looking away from the city are still easily accessible 30 mins drive from the city.
These pictures are from the same location looking towards and away from Canberra from 40km from the city centre.
MurrumbidgeeLP .jpgMurrumbidge-MADNESS-SINGLE-6400-50S-14MM-f28.jpgMurrumbidge-River-4341.jpg.
Three years ago(2020), I moved to my current dark sky property 160km from Canberra, the sky varied fromBortle 1 toBortle 4 mainly driven by sky transparency variations. I don't think light pollution in my area is increasing because the two nearest towns, both 7000 population, are not sprawling out quickly. The local council has made it difficult for surrounding farmland to be subdivided into residential blocks - that's good news for astronomy. This will slow development from approaching my village. The village itself is not increasing in size. My neighbours sold to new people who immediately installed a lot of outdoor lighting. They have been very amicable about minimising the effect of their outdoor lighting on my property.
However there is more particulates in the air and the proportion of high transparency nights to lower transparency nights, at least around new moons, anecdotally seems to have dropped. It is not something I have actively tracked. Over the first couple of years, we had record rains during the La Niña. This has the effect of clearing the air and lowering theBortle rating assessment. We are now moving into a drought (El Niño) and so there are more particulates in the air on more nights and less of those high transparency nights. I have not noted any increase in baseline light pollution over these three years, just the variation caused by transparency variations.
Another more scientific article on the progress of light pollution
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1 ... tQjgbkqiuk
Joe
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
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Re: Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year
Anecdotally I agree with this from my personal experience.
There’s no ambient artificial light visible in this area at night and no noise save the occasional bleating of sheep or lowing of cattle in adjacent grazing paddocks. Anecdotally, I sleep much better, without waking and I wake feeling refreshed even if I am up late observing and only sleep a few hours. Much better quality sleep than I ever had living in my city apartment.
I keep flashlights stashed in various places around the house so that I can find them by feel if we lose power because if we blackout…. It’s black. You can’t see anything.
Joe.
Amateur astronomer since 1978...................Web site : http://joe-cali.com/
Scopes: ATM 18" Dob, Vixen VC200L, ATM 6"f7, Stellarvue 102ED, Saxon ED80, WO M70 ED, Orion 102 Maksutov, ST80.
Mounts: Takahashi EM-200, iOptron iEQ45, Push dobsonian with Nexus DSC, three homemade EQ's.
Eyepieces: TV Naglers 31, 17, 12, 7; Denkmeier D21 & D14; Pentax XW10, XW5, Unitron 40mm Kellner, Meade Or 25,12
Cameras : Pentax K1, K5, K01, K10D / VIDEO CAMS : TacosBD, Lihmsec.
Cam/guider/controllers: Lacerta MGEN 3, SW Synguider, Simulation Curriculum SkyFi 3+Sky safari
Memberships Astronomical Association of Queensland; RASNZ Occultations Section; Single Exposure Milky Way Facebook Group (Moderator) (12k members), The Sky Searchers (moderator)
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