tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23215262229942460402024-03-12T19:24:34.853-07:00Loss of the Night citizen science projectUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-48849403927803509832020-12-03T00:05:00.002-08:002020-12-03T01:33:28.117-08:00Lighting so bad it could win a prize<p> Yesterday I joked on twitter that an image someone shared was so bad it should win a light pollution prize. Other twitterers responded with some of their own contenders. I thought I'd share them here:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">I have another contender. At least that one is lighting a street. This one from my neighborhood is lighting a patch of grass... and the sky <a href="https://t.co/kywZHY4hAQ">pic.twitter.com/kywZHY4hAQ</a></p>— Ken Walczak (@KWalzar) <a href="https://twitter.com/KWalzar/status/1334361423636475904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">What about the local college's football score board? <a href="https://t.co/oVHvdtu5id">pic.twitter.com/oVHvdtu5id</a></p>— Okie Space Queen (@OkieSpaceQueen) <a href="https://twitter.com/OkieSpaceQueen/status/1334363217343221762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How about my inconsiderate neighbor. No one else in the neighborhood of 12 homes leaves lights on all night long. Even after being talked to about, does this out of spite. Real winner. <a href="https://t.co/rrKkFhvBJj">pic.twitter.com/rrKkFhvBJj</a></p>— Kevin Cleary (@cleary6876) <a href="https://twitter.com/cleary6876/status/1334430169705164800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-77660129155569727032020-10-09T07:52:00.004-07:002020-10-09T07:53:12.153-07:00Spanish language instructional video for the Loss of the Night app<p>Juan Pablo Uchima from the University of La Serena, Chile, created an instructional video for using the Loss of the Night app. Check it out!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2eaE69Ty4ao" width="320" youtube-src-id="2eaE69Ty4ao"></iframe></div><br /><p>Thanks so much for creating this Juan!</p><p> </p><p>If anyone is inspired to do the same for another language, be sure to let us know!<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-24109062463488848662020-09-18T07:20:00.004-07:002020-10-01T09:16:35.364-07:00Mitforschen!<div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On October 14-15, Helga Kuechly and I will be presenting a number of our projects related to citizen science and light pollution together with Sibylle Schroer from IGB at the <a href="https://www.buergerschaffenwissen.de/projekte-auf-dem-festival" target="_blank">Mitforschen!</a> festival in Berlin. This post is mainly for people who might attend, but the links might also be interesting to other blog readers. The information is repeated in English below the German.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deutsch</span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An unserem Stand werden wir ein tolles Experiment haben, das zeigt, wie eine Reduzierung der Beleuchtung die Sichtbarkeit auf der Straße verbessern und gleichzeitig die Lichtverschmutzung reduzieren kann. Wir haben auch interaktive Medienanzeigen, auf denen ihr Daten zur Lichtverschmutzung untersuchen könnt. Mit</span><a href="https://lighttrends.lightpollutionmap.info/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Radiance Light Trends</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> könnt ihr testen, wie sich die Lichtemissionen weltweit ändern. Mit My Sky at Night könnt ihr die</span><a href="http://myskyatnight.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nachthimmelbeobachtungen von Bürgerwissenschaftlern</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> aus der ganzen Welt von 2006 bis heute erkunden und unseren Prototyp ausprobieren, der</span><a href="http://www.myskyatnight.com/#simulations" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">simulieren, wie sich ändernde Lichttechnologien auf den Nachthimmel auswirken</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Darüber hinaus präsentieren wir das Projekt "</span><a href="https://www.tatort-strassenbeleuchtung.de/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tatort Straßenbeleuchtung</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">", bei dem es um Artenschutz durch umweltverträgliche Beleuchtung geht. Schließlich werden wir alle Teilnehmenden des Festivals einladen, im Rahmen unseres Nachtlicht-BüHNE-Projekts an einer bürgerwissenschaftlichen Aktivität teilzunehmen: entlang einer Straße in Berlin alle Lichtquellen zählen, die ihr sehen könnt. Diese Daten helfen uns, die Variabilität der Antworten von Person zu Person zu verstehen. Wir freuen uns darauf, dich zu sehen!</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">English</span></p><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At our booth, we're going to have a cool visual demo that shows how reducing lighting can improve visibility on the street while reducing light pollution. We'll also have interactive media displays where you can explore data related to light pollution. With</span><a href="https://lighttrends.lightpollutionmap.info/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Radiance Light Trends</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, you can test how light emissions are changing around the world. With My Sky at Night, you can</span><a href="http://myskyatnight.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">explore the night sky observations</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of citizen scientists from around the world from 2006 until today, and you can also play with a prototype system for</span><a href="http://www.myskyatnight.com/#simulations" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">simulating how changing lighting technologies changes the night sky</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. In addition, we will present the "</span><a href="https://www.tatort-strassenbeleuchtung.de/en/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tatort Streetlight</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" project about species protection through sustainable lighting. Finally, we will invite everyone at the festival to take part in a citizen science activity as part of our Nachtlicht-BüHNE project: walking down a street in Berlin and counting up all the light sources that you can see. This data will help us understand the variability in responses from person to person. We look forward to seeing you!</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-28184351382650496882020-07-01T02:33:00.002-07:002020-07-01T02:34:44.630-07:00Changes in light emissions during the COVID-19 shutdownsAt the start of the lockdown periods in Europe and North America, a few people speculated about what it might mean for changes in light emissions. I was skeptical that we would see much of anything.<br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
That's what I expect as well. The only reduction I can imagine will be from having fewer drivers.</div>
— Christopher Kyba (@skyglowberlin) <a href="https://twitter.com/skyglowberlin/status/1242099821038702594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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Shortly afterwards, NASA showed some results for Hubei province in China:<br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Across Hubei, highway closures could be seen from space. <br />
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Traffic that once kept roadways alight was gone, and connections from one city to the next disappeared into the darkness <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#China</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wuhan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Wuhan</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/maps?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#maps</a> <a href="https://t.co/DrjnSUVgxs">pic.twitter.com/DrjnSUVgxs</a></div>
— Joshua Stevens (@jscarto) <a href="https://twitter.com/jscarto/status/1243297733911379975?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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We are still waiting for the monthly satellite data composites for February-April to come out, but I still don't expect to see much in most places. However, it turns out that there were some pretty dramatic changes in at least a few places around the world. The best example I've seen of this comes from Poland. Check out these two photos of Kraków, Poland, that Mateusz Windak <a href="https://astropolis.pl/topic/71432-krak%C3%B3w-wy%C5%82%C4%85czy-o%C5%9Bwietlenie-uliczne/page/4/?tab=comments#comment-815157" target="_blank">posted on a Polish forum</a>:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQAsex8YDGpgPoa6FLpp98OV-3uN45M4JYj6W1okBSAvR01i6VyjkahvDMTys8fpQw3Ukeb3Rw77-XL3lJsFU37SqYURPoJ6EycMsnYV0EdnOWM5-OJnaPVYPUOosBxiqPh-hKQkS8L7g/s1600/1290574084_Krakw_on_off.thumb.gif.9ce1d8c6110fda28dce8cb910452e239.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="1600" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQAsex8YDGpgPoa6FLpp98OV-3uN45M4JYj6W1okBSAvR01i6VyjkahvDMTys8fpQw3Ukeb3Rw77-XL3lJsFU37SqYURPoJ6EycMsnYV0EdnOWM5-OJnaPVYPUOosBxiqPh-hKQkS8L7g/s400/1290574084_Krakw_on_off.thumb.gif.9ce1d8c6110fda28dce8cb910452e239.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Mateusz Windak is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.<br />Click for the full size version.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Here's what Mateusz had to say about the photos:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The animation shows differences before and after midnight, when the
Cracow city lights are switched off. After the switch off, only private light
sources and the highway in the foreground remained. The lights were turned off
for a month and a half from 00:00 to 04:00 each night due to the lack of traffic during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Cracow has stopped shutting down the lights, but some other cities
are still continuing this practice. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The photos were taken from Wieliczka, a
neighboring city, using a Mavic Air drone. They are four panel
panoramas, the settings for each photograph are: 2s, ISO1600, f/2.8.</blockquote>
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Thanks for sharing your photos Mateusz! I find it really impressive that in addition to the lights going off, you can also see the decrease in sky brightnessUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-31313006029166805332020-06-19T05:46:00.003-07:002020-06-19T05:46:25.084-07:00Panel discussion about light pollution and dark skiesA while back I was invited to be part of a panel discussion titled "Light Pollution & the Dark Sky Movement". Check it out:<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/429203957" width="640"></iframe>
<a href="https://vimeo.com/429203957">[d]arc thoughts: Episode 4 | Light Pollution & the Dark Sky Movement</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user57462087">[d]arc media</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-64432400391609297232020-06-11T06:11:00.002-07:002020-06-11T06:12:46.868-07:00Loss of the Night app video tutorialsA group of undergraduate students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute recently produced tutorial videos for using the Loss of the Night app. They made separate videos for the Android and iOS versions. Feel free to share them!<br />
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<b>Android:</b><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bOm89XfEGUU" width="560"></iframe>
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<b>iOS:</b><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hqhQuh0Gkcs" width="560"></iframe>
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Big thanks to Aaron, <span class="il">Kai, </span>Ryan, and Vinit for producing these videos!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-86189152760617574362020-06-09T10:14:00.003-07:002020-06-09T10:15:19.612-07:00Removing natural light from nighttime satellite imagesMy student Jacqueline Coesfeld recently developed an analysis that will be interesting for readers of the blog who work with satellite data. I summarized it in a series of tweets. You can click on the tweet to read the thread, or see the <a href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1270347311747682305.html" target="_blank">unrolled version here</a>.<br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Jacqueline Coesfeld has developed a method to correct monthly Day/Night Band data from <a href="https://twitter.com/eogatpayne?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@eogatpayne</a> to center areas with no light at zero. Link to the paper: <a href="https://t.co/mzcVSoUZ1o">https://t.co/mzcVSoUZ1o</a><br />
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Image shows the result for a random location in the Pacific Ocean. Thread 👇🏿 <a href="https://t.co/pmLDdXkJAN">pic.twitter.com/pmLDdXkJAN</a></div>
— Christopher Kyba (@skyglowberlin) <a href="https://twitter.com/skyglowberlin/status/1270347311747682305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-11943110102053356272020-03-24T09:32:00.002-07:002020-03-24T09:32:22.671-07:00Street view with the lights outKen Walczak from the Adler Planetarium in Chicago recently sent me a set of two cool photos I want to share. Here's what he had to say about them:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #500050;">I got home after an evening event and
didn't realize at first why there was such a different quality to the
ambience of our neighborhood. It took a moment to realize that due to a
film shoot, the city had turned off all the lights on the main streets. I
walked the dog, said "Hi" to neighbors walking down the street, just as
normal and safe as a typical night. I snapped some photos. I set the
exposure to try and capture the visual quality of the experience (1sec
f/3.5 at ISO 800). The lights came back on later in the night and I shot
with the scene with the same settings.</span></blockquote>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz97KXxrBZ5S61xr7dcugeRuIyMhx8Gurtz0GD_aZEtkbbtzDFlAG03Np1h0zp1BGXRMMTymBMCkoDus9TzD8GPRVMr7Y2iI4eWCpBl5EdBCN6DxQry9Jl8_cp-jK0upktHmC_2Xmalf0/s1600/Off.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="1600" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz97KXxrBZ5S61xr7dcugeRuIyMhx8Gurtz0GD_aZEtkbbtzDFlAG03Np1h0zp1BGXRMMTymBMCkoDus9TzD8GPRVMr7Y2iI4eWCpBl5EdBCN6DxQry9Jl8_cp-jK0upktHmC_2Xmalf0/s320/Off.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Ken Walczak is licensed under<br />a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc3zH_i-7GGXgyiVwBIPCG46NDEB8PVRMVotYexvgzvQsZNy2H99-crZbekCg57PU32B8g25EuWH2xzJX7d5bELB9MECJhlxLyuWN7QyhwxXT1esqzjHsCpL0soCv7lb9-X40Dsqqo6dY/s1600/On.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="1600" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc3zH_i-7GGXgyiVwBIPCG46NDEB8PVRMVotYexvgzvQsZNy2H99-crZbekCg57PU32B8g25EuWH2xzJX7d5bELB9MECJhlxLyuWN7QyhwxXT1esqzjHsCpL0soCv7lb9-X40Dsqqo6dY/s320/On.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Ken Walczak is licensed under<br />a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsmXC3z5ZKOb3EvONDgmnFH_iECmu2N2VqyefUiruz9WEFSuV3_Z6u4M1gIkyTMDRbeD_vwcM0pBxg6j_vEigrjbTEyKicKhn4mvxyqj-7iI9bYXgQSDYTbS62uVXL8U8DvAHXm0KBkSg/s1600/KW_streetlights.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="1600" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsmXC3z5ZKOb3EvONDgmnFH_iECmu2N2VqyefUiruz9WEFSuV3_Z6u4M1gIkyTMDRbeD_vwcM0pBxg6j_vEigrjbTEyKicKhn4mvxyqj-7iI9bYXgQSDYTbS62uVXL8U8DvAHXm0KBkSg/s320/KW_streetlights.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Animated version</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
In an area with significant skyglow, I have often found that you actually have the better vision in unlit areas (e.g. parks, rooftops) than on lit city streets. The reason alleys in big cities are dark is not generally because there isn't enough light for you to see, but because of either glaring lights creating more contrast than your visual system can deal with, or else because you've left a really bright street and your eyes haven't had a chance to adapt.<br />
<br />
In case you didn't see it already, check out the other amazing photo of <a href="http://lossofthenight.blogspot.com/2019/11/skyglow-hotspots-over-chicago.html" target="_blank">clouds glowing over the Chicago</a> skyline Ken sent me a few months ago.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-74501287638658627082020-02-26T05:47:00.002-08:002021-10-20T08:37:56.027-07:00How not to light a staircaseStaircases represent a tripping hazard, and it is therefore not unreasonable to illuminate them under certain circumstances. However, as I have shown in the past, poorly designed illumination is actually much worse than no illumination at all. A (literally) brilliant example of this comes from the "Lustgarten" park in Potsdam:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMRrB6HLuKz3YjUfkCcWj3u5biJx8katFKqM8U8KAtuhtTWOQgBndI9mT905B7eucJYjCRz6QFyk5AKEQXihhF8SifezSlv4u0mvJYIMd4aXV927XVJ3BPQyq_xW7tPBaUihDzhfjHdU4/s1600/IMG_20200225_222043.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1600" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMRrB6HLuKz3YjUfkCcWj3u5biJx8katFKqM8U8KAtuhtTWOQgBndI9mT905B7eucJYjCRz6QFyk5AKEQXihhF8SifezSlv4u0mvJYIMd4aXV927XVJ3BPQyq_xW7tPBaUihDzhfjHdU4/s320/IMG_20200225_222043.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Christopher Kyba is licensed under a<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
These lights combine both the wrong direction (shining horizontally rather than downward) with being extremely bright, which makes them terribly glaring, and makes it harder, rather than easier, to safely ascend the staircase. (Right after I took this photo, I misjudged the position of the first step and stumbled slightly, even though I was trying to shield my eyes from the glare).<br />
<br />
What could be done instead? One interesting application I have seen is LEDs installed on the underside of a handrail. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of a really good execution of this. Here is an example of an attempt that didn't quite work out:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpPZssp6FM1fm5thzDtcIo-IawmHpoM2QrssdrEr0ZdDylu7N9kDdncczKzgECRNPSzYQOQhGX25x_CmnaeisHMzbfK4fvy3NTEAHbvpenHD6EY5HX7zSybkvZKpGMFwupI5BhnxQfjbQ/s1600/20161208_183536+%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpPZssp6FM1fm5thzDtcIo-IawmHpoM2QrssdrEr0ZdDylu7N9kDdncczKzgECRNPSzYQOQhGX25x_CmnaeisHMzbfK4fvy3NTEAHbvpenHD6EY5HX7zSybkvZKpGMFwupI5BhnxQfjbQ/s320/20161208_183536+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Christopher Kyba is licensed under a<br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<br />
It's better than the example above, but is still a problem, because it's still too bright near the lamps. What pedestrians need is accent illumination that helps them separate the stairs from the surroundings. When you have most of the scene lit with ~0.1 lux from skyglow and other distant light sources, and you then put 50 lux directly under the handrail, you've now created a 500:1 contrast. Your visual system doesn't deal well with that level of contrast, and it makes it harder to see.<br />
<br />
For areas that are not brightly lit, moonlight provides a good benchmark. A typical full moon night is around 0.1-0.2 lux, so if you're illuminating a fairly light concrete, you really shouldn't need any more than that.<br />
</p><p><b>Update</b> (October 20, 2021)<br /><br />I found a great example, also in Potsdam. Check out the lights at the front steps of the Ernst von Bermann Clinikum (hospital):<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhESWLgwJrfidzZ3-ETVqpW3bS3J21D1OuoREePJnSDy7Lz2guX_n7HDz8Tj48KqVcs51UdoUxgWV-yPeXBpxCI16v2BS_N6EBzODDBy5W6hmsNuOhcCVuxH1LkZ301ElmTacNkP0rmWDo/s2048/noexif.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1532" data-original-width="2048" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhESWLgwJrfidzZ3-ETVqpW3bS3J21D1OuoREePJnSDy7Lz2guX_n7HDz8Tj48KqVcs51UdoUxgWV-yPeXBpxCI16v2BS_N6EBzODDBy5W6hmsNuOhcCVuxH1LkZ301ElmTacNkP0rmWDo/s320/noexif.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Christopher Kyba is licensed under a<br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>The photo doesn't do it justice. It's a beautiful installation, there is absolutely no glare, it's not too bright, the color is warm, and in real life the area between the stairs is also sufficiently illuminated by light from the surroundings. I hope I get a chance to return to these two locations with a luxmeter and a DSLR camera sometime soon to do a more proper comparison.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-20754846879711077522019-12-02T05:46:00.002-08:002020-01-06T05:44:48.186-08:00Second action of the Nachtlicht-BüHNE outdoor lighting project<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">[<a href="https://lossofthenight.blogspot.com/2019/12/zweite-aktion-des-auenbeleuchtungsproje.html" target="_blank">Deutsche Version hier</a>] </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Nachtlicht-BüHNE
is a co-Designed Citizen Science project related to light at night, funded via the
</span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022https\:\/\/www\.helmholtz\.de\/en\/current_topics\/press_releases\/article\/artikeldetail\/helmholtz-to-fund-three-citizen-science-projects\/\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">CitizenScience@Helmholtz</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> initiative of the Helmholtz
Association in Germany.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Within the
project, citizen scientists will be developing two apps. The first, coordinated
by the German space agency (DLR), is about improving the system for reporting
sightings of fireballs</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> in Germany. The second,
coordinated by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), is about
creating large-scale </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">inventories of all outdoor
lighting</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">. This means we
are interested not just in street lighting, but also private lights, lighting
for advertisement, industrial lighting and so on. For more detailed background,
see the <a href="http://lossofthenight.blogspot.com/2019/09/first-action-of-nachtlicht-buhne-lamp.html" target="_blank">previous blog post</a> from September 5<sup>th</sup>. </span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChccPVIb5GVma17aUCa7GLRmvXfJn6vW0-g4s5cffSWtgo9bR1wmMNK65-42vg4Eyw_q2hd68LAifLjAd8nZG1pNjE3VQmx_UrDVtrLqQulYTDLXq5yghamK4FhnL-G2VQTiNs5qj2mo/s1600/East_Side_Mal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChccPVIb5GVma17aUCa7GLRmvXfJn6vW0-g4s5cffSWtgo9bR1wmMNK65-42vg4Eyw_q2hd68LAifLjAd8nZG1pNjE3VQmx_UrDVtrLqQulYTDLXq5yghamK4FhnL-G2VQTiNs5qj2mo/s320/East_Side_Mal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Markus Schönrock is licensed under<br />
a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">To get to the
point: there are no exhaustive databases categorizing all outdoor light sources
(in contrast to the situation for streetlights, for which there are some public
databases). In order to understand the radiance observed by satellites, we therefore
need information about what types of light sources are producing the light. We
would also like to understand how the types of light source change depending on
whether the satellite is viewing a small town, suburban areas, or city centers.
This project aims to develop an app to allow citizen scientists to record and
count outdoor luminaires, creating one of the first datasets of this kind…</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">you can be part of it!</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Before we can
develop the app, we need to figure out how to make it work well. We are
planning on producing two versions app the app: a </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ed7d31; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE; mso-themecolor: accent2;">Basic version</span></b><span style="color: #ed7d31; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE; mso-themecolor: accent2;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">with the minimum requirements, and a </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ed7d31; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE; mso-themecolor: accent2;">Pro version</span></b><span style="color: #ed7d31; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE; mso-themecolor: accent2;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">that allows more detailed information to be recorded. We are starting with
the Pro version, and this is where we need your help right now:</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">We have a special form for you
to record the data. You should send us your record by January 19th,<sup> </sup>2020
to </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="mailto:nachtlicht-buehne-light@listserv.dfn.de"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">helga.kuechly@gfz-potsdam.de</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">. Also, please feel free to
send us your feedback about what worked, what didn’t, and any problems and
further ideas you have about our approach.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Here are the
detailed instructions:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Find a friend</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Print out our <b><a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~kyba/nachtlicht-buehne/NB_Campaign2_EN.pdf" target="_blank">paper form</a></b></span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Have a look at the form from start to end, so you that you are familiar with
the different categories and attributes of the luminaires. (For example, we
also count illuminated windows, which might at first sound crazy, but actually
does not take that long and turns out to be really important.)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Choose a starting and ending location (typically a single street from one
intersection to another). </span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Get a pencil or pen, and then take the form and meet your friend at the
starting location.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Write down the time you started.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Start walking slowly down the street, recording ALL the light sources you
can see. We find it works best for one person to spot the lights, and the other to
record which type they are.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">When you reach your stopping point (eg. the next intersection), write down
the time you finished</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Optional: do another street! (But with a new form, please!)</span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">When you get home, type your observations into <b><a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~kyba/nachtlicht-buehne/NB_Campaign2_EN.xlsx" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white;">this Excel form</span></a></b>, and save
it.</span> </span></li>
<ul>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Record the coordinates of your segment on the form in decimal degrees (WGS84, for
example 52.5163N, 13.3777E). You can find the coordinates using Google maps or Openstreetmap.</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Send us your data and your thoughts about this paper version to </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="mailto:nachtlicht-buehne-light@listserv.dfn.de"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">helga.kuechly@gfz-potsdam.de</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> by January 5<sup>th</sup>
2020. </span></li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Finally, some additional hints regarding the lamp categories:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Most of the time we </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">count</span></b><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">the number of luminaires we
see – if a street lamp more luminaires (e.g. a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>candle tree with two arms) we count each of them individually (so two)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Sometimes counting is not enough in categories where the luminaires vary
greatly in </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">size</span></b><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">(e.g. illuminated signs outside
of shops). In this case, we have three size categories, and you count the times
the luminaire fits into them (e.g. a sign roughly as big as two hands counts as
two hand-sized signs)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Full </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">cutoff luminaires</span></b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">: this is a <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">lighting fixture</span> that projects <u>all</u>
of its <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">light</span> in a downward
direction – it can sometimes be tricky to tell if a street light is very high
up. Here some hints to help you with determining if a light is full cutoff:</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">The light source is fully inside of the fixture, it does not hang below it.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">The glass below the lamp is entirely flat, not curved</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">The fixture is directed straight downwards (not tilted at an angle)</span> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">No light should shine above the height of the lamp (if a nearby house or
tree is lit at a level higher than the lamp, it’s not full cutoff)</span> </span> </span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Normal versus </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">bright</span></b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">: humans cannot reliably
estimate small differences in brightness, but we can identify particularly
glaring light sources. So we want to record separately light sources that seem
particularly bright to you compared to the rest in your street segment (e.g.
the lighting at a zebra crossing, an extraordinarily bright shop window or sign
etc.) </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><b><a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~kyba/nachtlicht-buehne/NB_Campaign2_EN.pdf" target="_blank">Paper form</a></b></span><br />
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><b><a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~kyba/nachtlicht-buehne/NB_Campaign2_EN.xlsx" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white;">Excel form</span></a></b></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> </span><b><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">IMPORTANT SAFETY REMINDER</span></b><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">: </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Do not make observations
alone! With two people, you will do a better job of keeping track of your
surroundings. But it’s also much easier and a lot more fun to do it with a
friend or family member! </span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpHxGttK513gPcc3tqDeBTrAiYLgiHS8i4K_TLVQ2Cl34SKEEdSz8RvEyZu-g5whUoeTMQQp7i4X7B0h5WOVVKuN_yqkK7J1QtfzuFaUMYT4TKekK5Dc1DJIy77WQSkLC_MNUAAQ3FjJY/s1600/Berlin_railway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1184" data-original-width="1579" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpHxGttK513gPcc3tqDeBTrAiYLgiHS8i4K_TLVQ2Cl34SKEEdSz8RvEyZu-g5whUoeTMQQp7i4X7B0h5WOVVKuN_yqkK7J1QtfzuFaUMYT4TKekK5Dc1DJIy77WQSkLC_MNUAAQ3FjJY/s320/Berlin_railway.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Markus Schönrock is licensed under<br />
a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> </span>
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</style>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-44534808131693030492019-12-02T05:44:00.002-08:002020-01-06T05:45:17.809-08:00Zweite Aktion des Außenbeleuchtungsprojekts Nachtlicht-BüHNE<br />
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">[<a href="https://lossofthenight.blogspot.com/2019/12/second-action-of-nachtlicht-buhne.html" target="_blank">English version here</a>] </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Nachtlicht-BüHNE ist ein Co-Design Citizen
Science Projekt zum Thema Licht bei Nacht, das über die Initiative </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022https\:\/\/www\.helmholtz\.de\/en\/current_topics\/press_releases\/article\/artikeldetail\/helmholtz-to-fund-three-citizen-science-projects\/\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">CitizenScience@Helmholtz</span></span></span></span><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft in Deutschland
finanziert wird.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Im Rahmen des Projekts werden
Bürgerwissenschaftler*innen zwei Apps entwickeln. Die erste, vom Deutschen
Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) koordinierte Maßnahme betrifft die
Verbesserung des Systems zur Meldung von </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolide_(Meteor)"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Feuerkugeln</span></a></span><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in
Deutschland. Die zweite, koordiniert durch das Deutsche GeoForschungsZentrum
(GFZ), befasst sich mit der Erstellung von groß angelegten </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";">Katastern der gesamten Außenbeleuchtung</span></b><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">. Das bedeutet, dass wir uns nicht nur für
Straßenbeleuchtung interessieren, sondern auch für Privatbeleuchtung,
Werbebeleuchtung, Industriebeleuchtung etc. Für einen detaillierteren
Hintergrund siehe den <a href="http://lossofthenight.blogspot.com/2019/09/first-action-of-nachtlicht-buhne-lamp.html" target="_blank">vorherigen Blogbeitrag</a> vom 5. September (auf Englisch). </span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn54GQPZ3M-CwkusDaxSMJ8ekOtKfMRW_5DwxLo65mB_d9eEmKV2eIBORWUqOe7lGEcsWExzq5uc4StLoZOgDHKQF4XjFKlj8TmwVxDK8CEGfWv45JQ-vPObAac1ob5M-_cZXY-8uaPE8/s1600/East_Side_Mal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn54GQPZ3M-CwkusDaxSMJ8ekOtKfMRW_5DwxLo65mB_d9eEmKV2eIBORWUqOe7lGEcsWExzq5uc4StLoZOgDHKQF4XjFKlj8TmwVxDK8CEGfWv45JQ-vPObAac1ob5M-_cZXY-8uaPE8/s320/East_Side_Mal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dieses Werk von Markus Schönrock ist lizenziert unter einer<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Namensnennung 4.0 International Lizenz</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Um auf den Punkt zu kommen: Es gibt keine umfangreichen
Datenbanken, die alle Außenlichtquellen kategorisieren (im Gegensatz zur
Situation bei Straßenleuchten, für die es einige öffentliche Datenbanken gibt).
Um die von Satelliten beobachteten Lichtemissionen verstehen zu können,
benötigen wir daher Informationen darüber, welche Arten von Leuchten das Licht
erzeugen. Wir möchten auch verstehen, wie sich die Arten von Lichtquellen
ändern, je nachdem, ob der Satellit eine Kleinstadt, Vorstadtgebiete oder
Stadtzentren betrachtet. Ziel dieses Projekts ist die Entwicklung einer App,
die es Bürgerwissenschaftler*innen ermöglicht, Außenleuchten aufzunehmen und zu
zählen, und damit einen der ersten Datensätze dieser Art zu erstellen......und Du
kannst ein Teil davon sein!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Bevor wir die App entwickeln können, müssen
wir eine gute Methode entwickeln. Wir planen, die App in zwei Versionen zu
produzieren: eine </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="DE" style="color: #ed7d31; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE; mso-themecolor: accent2;">Basis-Version</span></b><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">,<span style="color: #ed7d31; mso-themecolor: accent2;"> </span><span style="color: black;">mit den Mindestanforderungen und eine </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ed7d31; mso-themecolor: accent2;">Pro-Version</span></b><span style="color: black;">, die es ermöglicht,
detailliertere Informationen zu erfassen. Wir beginnen mit der Pro-Version, und
hier brauchen wir jetzt Eure Hilfe:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Wir haben ein spezielles Formular für Dich,
um die Daten zu erfassen. Du<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>solltest
uns Deine aufgenommen Daten bis zum 19. Januar 2020 an </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="mailto:helga.kuechly@gfz-potsdam.de"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">helga.kuechly@gfz-potsdam.de</span></a></span><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>schicken. Außerdem kannst du uns gerne Dein
Feedback darüber geben, was funktioniert hat, was nicht, und alle Probleme und
weitere Ideen, die Du zu unserem Ansatz hast. <br />
Hier kommt die genaue Anleitung:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Finde eine*n Freund*in</span> </li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Druckt u<span style="background-color: white;">nser <b><a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~kyba/nachtlicht-buehne/NB_Campaign2_DE.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;">Papierformular</span></a></b>
a</span>us</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Sieh Dir das Formular von Anfang bis Ende
an, damit Du mit den verschiedenen Kategorien und Eigenschaften der Leuchten
vertraut bist. (Zum Beispiel zählen wir auch beleuchtete Fenster, was sich
zunächst verrückt anhören mag, aber eigentlich nicht so lange dauert und sich
als sehr wichtig erweist.)</span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Wählt einen Start- und Endpunkt
(typischerweise eine einzelne Straße von einer Kreuzung zur anderen). </span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Hol Dir einen großen Notizblock und einen
Stift, und treffe dann Deine*n Freund*in am Startort und schreibe die Zeit auf,
die Du begonnen hast.</span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Gehe langsam die Straße hinunter und nehme
ALLE Lichtquellen auf, die Du sehen kannst. Es funktioniert am besten wenn eine
Person die Lichter aufnimmt, und die andere aufzuzeichnen, welcher Typ sie
sind.</span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Wenn Du Deinen Haltepunkt erreichst (z.B.
die nächste Kreuzung), notiere Dir die Zeit, in der Du fertig warst.</span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Optional: Mache eine weitere Straße!</span></span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Erfasse die Koordinaten Deines Segments in
Dezimalgraden (WGS84, z.B. 52.5163N, 13.3777E). Du kannst die Koordinaten z.B. über
Google Maps oder Openstreetmap finden.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Wenn Du nach Hause kommst, gib Deine
Beobachtungen in <b><a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~kyba/nachtlicht-buehne/NB_Campaign2_DE.xlsx" target="_blank">dieses Excel-Formular</a></b> ein und speichere es.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Senden uns Deine Daten und Deine Gedanken
zu dieser Papierversion bis zum 5. Januar 2020 an </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="mailto:helga.kuechly@gfz-potsdam.de"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">helga.kuechly@gfz-potsdam.de</span></a></span> </span></span></span> </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Abschließend noch einige zusätzliche
Hinweise zu den Lampenkategorien:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span lang="DE" style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Meistens zählen wir<span style="color: black;"> die </span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";">Anzahl</span></b><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";"> </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";">der Leuchten, die wir sehen - wenn eine
Straßenlampe mehrere Leuchten hat (z.B. eine Armleuchte mit zwei Armen), zählen
wir jede von ihnen einzeln (also zwei).</span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";"></span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">In Kategorien, in denen die Leuchten sehr unterschiedliche <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Größen</b> haben
(z.B. Lichtwerbung außerhalb von Geschäften), reicht die Zählung manchmal nicht
aus. In diesem Fall haben wir drei Größenkategorien, und wir zählen die Anzahl
der Kategorie, in denen die Leuchte passt (z.B. ein Leuchtschild, das etwa so
groß wie zwei Hände ist, zählt wie zwei handgroße Zeichen).</span></li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";">Voll abgeschirmte Leuchten</span></b><span lang="DE" style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="color: black;">: Dies ist eine Leuchte, die ihr
gesamtes Licht nach unten projiziert - es kann manchmal schwierig s</span>ein zu
erkennen, wenn eine Straßenleuchte sehr hoch steht. Hier einige Hinweise, die
helfen, festzustellen, ob eine Leuchte voll abgeschnitten ist:</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Die Lichtquelle befindet sich
vollständig im Inneren der Leuchte, sie hängt nicht darunter.</span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Das Glas unter der Lampe ist völlig
flach, nicht gebogen.</span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Die Vorrichtung ist gerade nach
unten gerichtet (nicht schräg geneigt).</span></li>
<li><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Kein Licht sollte über die Höhe der
Lampe hinaus leuchten (wenn ein Haus oder Baum in der Nähe auf einem höheren
Niveau als die Lampe beleuchtet wird, ist es keine vollständige Abschaltung).</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span lang="DE" style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Normal versu<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black;">s </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "arial";">hell</span></b></span><span lang="DE" style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">: Der Mensch kann kleine Helligkeitsunterschiede nicht
zuverlässig abschätzen, aber wir können besonders grelle Lichtquellen
identifizieren. Deshalb wollen wir separat Lichtquellen aufzeichnen, die im
Vergleich zum Rest des Straßenabschnittes besonders hell erscheinen (z.B. die
Beleuchtung an einem Zebrastreifen, ein außergewöhnlich helles Schaufenster
oder Schild usw.).</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~kyba/nachtlicht-buehne/NB_Campaign2_DE.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;">Papierformular</span></a></b></span></span><br />
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"><b><a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~kyba/nachtlicht-buehne/NB_Campaign2_DE.xlsx" target="_blank">Excel-Formular</a></b></span></span></span></span> <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">WICHTIGE SICHERHEITSHINWEISE</span></b><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;">Mache keine Beobachtungen allein! Mit zwei
Personen könnt ihr besser die Umgebung im Auge zu behalten. Und es ist auch
viel einfacher und macht viel mehr Spaß, es mit einem Freund*in oder
Familienmitglied zu machen!</span><span lang="DE" style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: DE;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPi__WDviD5HoiQKDM5PnqWEVvh-YrKhVmNf0D88UMPg_FkpLnSXvw0kuE9V7f6NYbrmmBVGfG92v0jlxMrIczBxCs2NYc629rrUR-jezE-eR_rQPPxOIjs6bu2EzG6uXF2PLddkJdU1M/s1600/Berlin_railway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1184" data-original-width="1579" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPi__WDviD5HoiQKDM5PnqWEVvh-YrKhVmNf0D88UMPg_FkpLnSXvw0kuE9V7f6NYbrmmBVGfG92v0jlxMrIczBxCs2NYc629rrUR-jezE-eR_rQPPxOIjs6bu2EzG6uXF2PLddkJdU1M/s320/Berlin_railway.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dieses Werk von Markus Schönrock ist lizenziert unter einer<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Namensnennung 4.0 International Lizenz</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-21902113228124846532019-11-25T12:26:00.000-08:002019-11-25T12:27:46.277-08:00Skyglow hotspots over Chicago<div>
Ken Walczak took this photo of the glowing sky above Chicago's skyline from the base of the <a href="https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/">Adler Planetarium</a>:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikW-nYU9hYxPjspKGJfSjFrtimDH7nkVSu2clgvjXI2gYKApf3p_yNa3QQvxUVyRpmnUwkKgB1PAcibbP6Gci3Hd0-yxoonsYvRPmofLEd9lp15qBN_MEW4u1VH63kSlEwOdZNB8sSv8/s1600/Chicago+Overcast+Lights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1600" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikW-nYU9hYxPjspKGJfSjFrtimDH7nkVSu2clgvjXI2gYKApf3p_yNa3QQvxUVyRpmnUwkKgB1PAcibbP6Gci3Hd0-yxoonsYvRPmofLEd9lp15qBN_MEW4u1VH63kSlEwOdZNB8sSv8/s320/Chicago+Overcast+Lights.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Ken Walczak is licensed under a<br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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The bright spots show up where near vertically upward directed light enters a cloud. The lights that cause the bright patches are poorly directed, <a href="http://lossofthenight.blogspot.com/2015/03/effect-of-single-floodlamp-in-natural.html">missing their target</a>, contributing to light pollution, and wasting energy without providing any social benefit. Some countries and cities have enacted lighting ordinances or laws that do not allow this kind of lighting. With clever design, it's possible to <a href="https://lightingjournal.org/index.php/path/article/view/80">light building facades without spilling light directly into the sky</a>, saving energy, reducing light pollution, and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/09/26/1708574114">reducing impacts on wildlife like migrating birds</a>.</div>
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Kornél and Zoltán Kolláth have shown that if you know the distance to the buildings, you can use the positions of these glows to <a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017EGUGA..1917949K/abstract">calculate how high the cloud base is</a>. In principle, you could use the same method in reverse to figure out which buildings are responsible! But if you're from Chicago, maybe you already have a guess? Feel free to leave your guesses in the comments.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-27896264789479370512019-09-18T06:14:00.002-07:002019-09-18T06:14:40.883-07:00Bad lamp workarounds<span style="font-family: inherit;">Have you ever seen a badly designed or implemented outdoor lamp, and then actually done something about it? I've actually done this twice with floodlamps that were meant to illuminate buildings but were not well aimed. Just a little tilt, and suddenly all the light is on the building and no longer streaming into the sky... </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's a great example photographed by Tatjana Scheffler showing how someone decided to deal with a problematic buried spotlight:</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjjv_7ttkB5MnYsBmFG5IMOx02lhON4jDxkDcd_qmGZjw5m7jGQBt1wseD8uEU5TsB6c3q3sIE_S5q-cJSZqiQYQSPWSTFVQI8i7gR0wHKzq8IJQtxdR_Vn0xRXqO7t42B7_0rJbm_Xs/s1600/creative_solution.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1430" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjjv_7ttkB5MnYsBmFG5IMOx02lhON4jDxkDcd_qmGZjw5m7jGQBt1wseD8uEU5TsB6c3q3sIE_S5q-cJSZqiQYQSPWSTFVQI8i7gR0wHKzq8IJQtxdR_Vn0xRXqO7t42B7_0rJbm_Xs/s320/creative_solution.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Tatjana Scheffler is licensed under a<br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The problem was that when you go to to get your bike, the lamp shines up into your eyes and is very disturbing. Whoever found the pylon "solved" the problem for at least a portion of the bike parking area. Of course, this meant that the pillar was no longer floodlit, so this is a more drastic change than what I was talking about above.<br />
<br />
<br />
Still, if light art is going to be used, it ought to be beautiful. And not just for the cars that are driving past, but for the customers that are shopping in the store employing the light art!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-86092644381245274832019-09-05T14:00:00.000-07:002019-11-28T08:14:50.795-08:00First action of the "Nachtlicht-BüHNE" lamp project<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm very excited to announce that the Helmholtz Association has decided to fund a new project related to light at night, called <b><span class="m_5107400621313292014m_-1641920546977255502gmail-m_6951345776105327684m_7451685996371988037m_3090323093921311907gmail-il"><span class="m_5107400621313292014m_-1641920546977255502gmail-il">Nachtlicht</span></span>-<span class="m_5107400621313292014m_-1641920546977255502gmail-il">BüHNE</span></b>. It is a co-designed citizen science project, funded under the <a href="https://www.helmholtz.de/en/current_topics/press_releases/article/artikeldetail/helmholtz-to-fund-three-citizen-science-projects/" target="_blank">CitizenScience@Helmholtz</a> funding initiative.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">BüHNE stands for "<i>Bürger-Helmholtz-Netzwerk für die Erforschung von nächtlichen Lichtphänomenen</i>". That translates roughly to the "citizen/Helmholtz network for the study of night light phenomena. The German word <i>Bühne</i> means "stage", and citizen scientists will really be at center stage in the project.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Within the project, citizen scientists will be developing two apps (in cooperation and consultation with the project coordinators). The first, coordinated by my colleague <a href="https://www.dlr.de/dw/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-12207/21398_read-35663/start-k/sortby-lastname/" target="_blank">Friederike Klan</a> at DLR, is about improving the system for reporting sightings of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid#Fireball" target="_blank">fireballs</a> in Germany. The second, coordinated by me at GFZ, is about creating several large-scale inventories of ourdoor lighting. That's the part I am writing about in this post.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our previous research has shown that <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/11/e1701528" target="_blank">light emissions are growing at a rate of over 2% per year worldwide</a>, including in wealthy countries like Germany. The problem is, we don't know what types of lamps are responsible for the growth. For that matter, when we look at low-resolution satellite imagery, we don't even know what types of lamps are responsible for the emissions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPV2XIG1FSBD4-2Ji27ky-H-MhEWHOFBvgLoe1qoCmrg1aQHezIA1W_0qxAPOtIlkq1DI8K7CNZFHnoLPOxlM22CrY3c5nUxogqcpLch_en7jD7rS_0yE32L69UrkXhgaY7BIiriWH0Q8/s1600/Berlin_VIIRS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="810" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPV2XIG1FSBD4-2Ji27ky-H-MhEWHOFBvgLoe1qoCmrg1aQHezIA1W_0qxAPOtIlkq1DI8K7CNZFHnoLPOxlM22CrY3c5nUxogqcpLch_en7jD7rS_0yE32L69UrkXhgaY7BIiriWH0Q8/s320/Berlin_VIIRS.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Composite image of Berlin from the Suomi NPP Day/Night Band.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Even with higher resolution imagery from space or the air, we still can't tell how much light comes from, for example, street lamps compared to advertising lighting:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69rmZThe9jXrJcfk79_eNLr39-4gWSFl-t8MSUz9lNfSpjYw-iDIe6r1yEj9H2cIIfCDgclvRtOgKDWdtY6j_cLcl_oNr0KAitgCOokyFu4gYxz-i0fAm_IHPPvNGo8drl2RnFF3WViE/s1600/berlin_from_space.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="1600" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69rmZThe9jXrJcfk79_eNLr39-4gWSFl-t8MSUz9lNfSpjYw-iDIe6r1yEj9H2cIIfCDgclvRtOgKDWdtY6j_cLcl_oNr0KAitgCOokyFu4gYxz-i0fAm_IHPPvNGo8drl2RnFF3WViE/s320/berlin_from_space.png" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Berlin photographed from the <a href="https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS047&roll=E&frame=29989" target="_blank">International Space Station</a>.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our goal within the artificial light part of Nachtlicht-BüHNE is to obtain more complete information from the ground that we can use to improve our understanding of the satellite imagery. For example, when the DNB instrument in space says that the radiance is <span style="font-size: small;">"35 nW/</span><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">cm</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><sup>2</sup></span></span></span>sr", how many light sources on the ground are responsible for it? 100? 1000? And how do the types of light sources change depending on whether you are in a small town, the suburbs, or a city center?</span><style><!--
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the Nachtlicht-BüHNE lamp project, large teams of citizen scientists will work together to count all of the lamps that are visible from public spaces over very large areas. By the project end, we expect to have at least 3 regions in which we have counted all of the light sources visible from public spaces cover<span style="font-size: small;">ing 2</span><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">km</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><sup>2</sup></span></span></span>. Of course, we hope that the teams of citizen scientists will manage more than 3 regions, and maybe even larger areas, but that's getting ahead of ourselves...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Before we can develop an app, we need to figure out how to make it work well. Our first goal is therefore to start building up categories of what types of lamps are out there. It's easy to think of some obvious frequent types: street lights, illuminated windows, bus shelters, lit advertising, facade lighting. But there's a lot more! Gas station canopies, strings of lanterns, in ground luminaires, porch lighting...</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The list goes on and on (and on and on), so in order to make sure we cover everything, and even more importantly, to make sure we organize things logically, we're going to need input from you. For the next 10 days, we're asking people around the world to go out at night and walk short transects with a friend, recording light source types, counting the number of each, and recording how long it takes </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Here's what we suggest you do: </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<ul><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Find a friend</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Choose a starting location together (eg. an intersection)</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Get a large notepad and a pencil or pen, and then go to the starting location</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Note the time</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Start walking slowly down the street</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Have your friend call out the different lamp types he or she sees, while you start recording them on a table</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">When you reach a logical stopping point (eg. the next intersection), write down the time you finished</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Optional: do another street!</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">When you are finished, go home and report the data to us using <a href="https://forms.gle/z3DiP6D2AMfmQxJ16" target="_blank">this form in English</a> (or <a href="https://forms.gle/b6D2dErqgLdM9sLA9" target="_blank">this form for German</a>)</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Let us know your thoughts about the project from within the form, including ideas about how the app might work</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Note:
DO NOT put your name, email, or any identifying information in the
form! We want the data to be completely anonymous at this stage so that
we can easily share it with our citizen scientist team without any
privacy concerns. But we do welcome your correspondence. You can comment
on this blog post, or contact Helga Kuechly at the email address at the
bottom of the online form. </span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>IMPORTANT SAFETY REMINDERS</b>:</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><ul><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Do not make observations alone! With two people, you will do a better job of maintaining situational awareness. It will also be a lot more fun with a friend! </span></span></span></span></span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If you live in an area with aggressive policing, we recommend you do not take part in this phase. Please wait until we have a printed form or the app which you could show to any police officers who wonder why you are taking notes about a neighborhood at night.</span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">You can categorize the data in any way you want. Should you keep track of the color of the lamps? The height of the poles? How bright they seem? Whether they emit light upwards? It's entirely up to you! Do what you think is logical, needed, and/or easy. Our aim is to develop a system that provides useful data while also being really easy for anyone without background in outdoor lights to take part.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">We are accepting data in this test phase until September 15. Our plan is then to meet with our team of citizen scientists developing the app to develop a standardized paper form, and then in late September or early October we'll run another campaign to see how well the standardized form works.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">If you can speak German and would like to be part of the team of citizen scientists doing the app development and testing, please contact <a href="https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/staff/helga-kuechly/sec14/" target="_blank">Helga Kuechly</a>. Please also contact Helga if you would like to arrange an observation campaign in your community (no German required!), or </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">help develop an English version of the app</span>. If you would like to get our project newsletter by email, you can <a href="https://www.listserv.dfn.de/sympa/subscribe/nachtlicht-buehne" target="_blank">sign up here</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://forms.gle/z3DiP6D2AMfmQxJ16" target="_blank">Data submission form in English</a> // <a href="https://forms.gle/b6D2dErqgLdM9sLA9" target="_blank">data submission form in German</a></span></span></span></span></span> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-29082069724621499802019-09-02T06:37:00.000-07:002019-09-02T06:37:26.907-07:00New Zealand imaged by starlightIt's never <i>really</i> dark at night. Besides starlight, the Earth's atmosphere itself glows. Both airglow and starlight can be reflected from the surface of the Earth. Since plants, rock, soil, and snow have higher reflectance than water, in a nighttime image they should appear brighter.<br />
<br />
However, there is only one satellite that images the entire Earth each night, and it's just barely sensitive enough to see this. For example, here is what a portion of the South Island of New Zealand looks like when the data from all the clear moon-free nights of October 2017 is averaged together:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio3FkxHlQZTgXyR9iOSQ82vb1OaMCBGGxsuPEQB8TeCD1GJCPTbMwS39vIFavsh7VNGsR1mFAsiXgT7f5WsRQfG19prspOjO3NE6cfBIBld-AqvaJabwT0JbbmU1AnQfci8z73Oc31Rq4/s1600/NZ_one_month.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1033" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio3FkxHlQZTgXyR9iOSQ82vb1OaMCBGGxsuPEQB8TeCD1GJCPTbMwS39vIFavsh7VNGsR1mFAsiXgT7f5WsRQfG19prspOjO3NE6cfBIBld-AqvaJabwT0JbbmU1AnQfci8z73Oc31Rq4/s320/NZ_one_month.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Christopher Kyba is licensed under a<br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
You can see the mountain ranges, and you can just barely see the separation between land and water. But the more data you add, the more the signal comes out from the noise. My colleague Helga Kuechly produced this image by combining the seven October moon-free composite images from the years 2012-2018:<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitohxuCilMtrouWBYen0ATGnzsPzus_8TJ-kgu2RTUtVrQscktaUo5p0rmD16zPOfpz_6GMHpIBmBY1qMe62VzfHmScIvC9gnbJUwwSaFQ6zOcaZGsMv1nS-nbGQJOd_-QL-3mKIHFkxk/s1600/new_zealand_DNB_Oct.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1477" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitohxuCilMtrouWBYen0ATGnzsPzus_8TJ-kgu2RTUtVrQscktaUo5p0rmD16zPOfpz_6GMHpIBmBY1qMe62VzfHmScIvC9gnbJUwwSaFQ6zOcaZGsMv1nS-nbGQJOd_-QL-3mKIHFkxk/s320/new_zealand_DNB_Oct.png" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aotearoa" target="_blank">"Aotearoa</a> by starlight" by Helga Kuechly is licensed under<br />a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In addition to making a stunning image, it demonstrates that if we continue to work on increasing the sensitivity of night observing satellites, it is possible to extend traditional visible band remote sensing even to nights without moonlight! Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-31792240918959858582019-08-22T01:36:00.000-07:002019-09-05T01:37:17.527-07:00August 2019 newsletterHere's the link to our newsletter for <a href="https://mailchi.mp/01dfba4a8db2/newsletter_2019-juli-loss-of-the-night" target="_blank">August</a>. If you'd like to get the newsletter, you can sign up on the right hand side of this page.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-82346664407836832882019-07-24T01:34:00.000-07:002019-09-05T01:37:27.570-07:00July newsletterLink to our newsletter for <a href="https://mailchi.mp/bddf64b64c7d/newsletter_2019-juli-loss-of-the-night-1788285" target="_blank">July</a>. If you'd like to get the newsletter, you can sign up on the right hand side.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-82256343870148622062019-03-08T02:37:00.002-08:002019-03-08T02:38:15.201-08:00Stargazing opportunity from a hotel balconyToday my colleague Andrej Mohar sent me some information about a new boutique hotel that has opened in <span class="section-info-text"><span class="widget-pane-link">Slovenia. What's interesting and exciting about <a href="https://www.vilaplaninka.com/en/" target="_blank">Vila Planinka</a> is that it is in an intrinsically dark area and the balconies are intentionally unlit, so you could stargaze directly from the balcony of your room. In addition, the village lights in Jezersko where the hotel is located turn off at 23:00, so it would be a really comfortable place to stargaze from. Take a look at what the hotel looks like at night (you'll want to click to see a larger view):</span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZKAPTdkm_lcI7WF7gnR0ywo8PfQbT_ogoxcNHbDrdusqtVjeVEZtFEIkPGV5iCFABHS3s6kVFih7mQ1WAV3cEtxn0CodQrahXPaMVkWpIzVqFj31p567_GTewqhjUDoNlCezTJNcpOo/s1600/IMG_0741+Vila+Planinka+Jezersko+LR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZKAPTdkm_lcI7WF7gnR0ywo8PfQbT_ogoxcNHbDrdusqtVjeVEZtFEIkPGV5iCFABHS3s6kVFih7mQ1WAV3cEtxn0CodQrahXPaMVkWpIzVqFj31p567_GTewqhjUDoNlCezTJNcpOo/s320/IMG_0741+Vila+Planinka+Jezersko+LR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span property="dct:title" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">Vila Planinka Hotel</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Andrej Mohar</span> is licensed under<br />
a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
And here is a map of light emissions in the area where it is located, you can see that it is nestled in a "dark island": <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu4KUs_7wqpzSDAPRGlVDOdZFJdAmi36jhlBWrM48Pn8BlFg3mFau9P0oKUgqmK3Z7I5CRPSOP8kccMtJwaJyFdfV4euAt6Xy4fCQ3_oUE40Wj0saVpC7IawVzvPwE42XDkRVzIPyCoBs/s1600/location.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="1108" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu4KUs_7wqpzSDAPRGlVDOdZFJdAmi36jhlBWrM48Pn8BlFg3mFau9P0oKUgqmK3Z7I5CRPSOP8kccMtJwaJyFdfV4euAt6Xy4fCQ3_oUE40Wj0saVpC7IawVzvPwE42XDkRVzIPyCoBs/s320/location.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Light emissions near Jezersko, from the <a href="https://lighttrends.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=11&lon=14.50233&lat=46.39421" target="_blank">Radiance Light Trends webapp</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
According to Andrej, the surrounding mountains block out light pollution towards the horizon, so the view is stunning. <br />
<br />
If you look at the <a href="https://www.vilaplaninka.com/en/" target="_blank">hotel website</a>, you'll see that one of their photos shows a telescope in the room. I'm not sure if that is included generally or not, but it shows that the hotel is sees a view of the stars as one of the attractions of their location.<br />
<br />
I have stayed in a number of hotels where the balcony had a light on all night, or the facade is floodlit, and I find it really unpleasant. It's great to see that some hotels are realizing that there is value in letting guests enjoy the dark! Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-15546566532914614242019-03-05T05:37:00.001-08:002019-03-05T05:37:24.001-08:00Looking for stars with the Loss of the Night appI have a new photo showing someone looking for stars with a phone:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3-IpSjnuTX2moJfOcRX0rz7mGw_lpZzYSsINWapULBS0qtlrzdkiYhTi_5VDR6pWUZ7D-sPfx0OGgwo1udtdA9aEbcWZZtfDDB1uQ3uQ-Ks7y_9PS9gy3LdFZ6jPGDiM4E4gnNMlSZQ/s1600/VdN_app_observation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3-IpSjnuTX2moJfOcRX0rz7mGw_lpZzYSsINWapULBS0qtlrzdkiYhTi_5VDR6pWUZ7D-sPfx0OGgwo1udtdA9aEbcWZZtfDDB1uQ3uQ-Ks7y_9PS9gy3LdFZ6jPGDiM4E4gnNMlSZQ/s320/VdN_app_observation.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by Christopher Kyba is licensed under a<br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-50005876720537355232019-02-26T07:01:00.001-08:002019-02-26T07:04:26.629-08:00Can we get 2000 Globe at Night cloud-free observations this March?I am currently preparing an analysis of the <a href="http://globeatnight.org/" target="_blank">Globe at Night</a> sky brightness data taken from 2006 up until today. It's really important that we do this, because the world is switching to LED lighting, and <a href="http://rdcu.be/H0ei" target="_blank">visual observations are the only way to really know if the sky is getting brighter or darker</a>. The work is going well, but there is a problem - a problem I need your help with.<br />
<br />
When Globe at Night started, it was a campaign that only took place in one month out of the year: March. Over time, Globe at Night expanded to allow people to do observations at any time during the year. This was intended to make it easier for people to take part. For example, if a teacher wanted to have his students make Globe at Night observations, it might make more sense to do it at another time during the semester. And some places frequently have cloudy weather, so an amateur astronomer might be disappointed if she can't make an observation one year.<br />
<br />
However, I believe that the change to a full-year campaign had an unintended side effect of reducing the excitement and urgency of making observations. When observations can be made at any time, there is less urgency, less social media buzz, and it is therefore in some sense harder to motivate people to take part. Perhaps as a result, the total number of Globe at Night observations has been slowly dropping over the years. The bigger problem from my point of view, however, is that the number of observations taken in March has dropped even faster:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgldoIV3oPsS6-bRwKX10MQq7X9-iGJMpKdVTXx0VGZM1Ay2Mpm4z4vUJYNhCTtsqTW1bxgkyqvz4lgQPC-a1a5RTiuIMkNWzYyw3JUEix8khCo6VjD_YwtQIbOQMLXFrWunzEkz8gHZs8/s1600/GaN_obs_yearly.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="542" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgldoIV3oPsS6-bRwKX10MQq7X9-iGJMpKdVTXx0VGZM1Ay2Mpm4z4vUJYNhCTtsqTW1bxgkyqvz4lgQPC-a1a5RTiuIMkNWzYyw3JUEix8khCo6VjD_YwtQIbOQMLXFrWunzEkz8gHZs8/s320/GaN_obs_yearly.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annual number of Globe at Night observations. Observations in March are shown with a dashed line.<br />
For the purposes of this plot, multiple observations from a single location in a single month are counted only once, and only cloud-free data is included.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is a problem for me, because the reviewers of my paper might rightly ask whether it's fair to compare annual data taken during 2011-2019 to the March-only data from 2006-2010. Furthermore, can we really make strong conclusions about trends when there were thousands of March Globe at Night observations in the past, but only a few hundred in recent years?<br />
<br />
For that reason, I'm asking amateur astronomers, light pollution activists, and citizen science promoters to help me promote Globe at Night this March. If we work together to activate our networks, can we get March participation back up to the levels it had when Globe at Night first started? Please help by sharing a link to the <a href="https://www.globeatnight.org/webapp/" target="_blank">Globe at Night webapp</a> in social media, posting on message boards where the members would be interested in making observations, and of course making one or more observations yourself! The webapp is available in <a href="https://www.globeatnight.org/downloads" target="_blank">28 different languages</a>, so if English is not the first language of your community, be sure to share the relevant app.<br />
<br />
The most important days to target this year will be the weekends of March 1-3 and March 29-31. It would therefore be most helpful to spread the word within your networks on March 1 and March 29. Observations are possible throughout the periods February 26-March 7, and March 27-April 5.<br />
<br />
I hope that together, we can get a big bump in the data in March, 2019! Thank you for your help in spreading the word!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-30953065604784260062018-10-05T06:16:00.001-07:002018-10-05T06:16:21.025-07:00What prevents us from seeing the stars?Last night I was in Brussels, Belgium, and as the sky was clear I had the chance to look for stars at an open area just outside of the Brussels Central Station. When I first looked up, it seemed as if there weren't any stars at all, and I think this is the impression that most people would have. But when you look at the dark sky for a bit longer, and screen out some of the glaring light using your hands, it turns out you can see quite a few stars!<br />
<br />
Here is my observation:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBU1nZmD7VBRbDdkoESnb0fBRhOeZQa22IbG4U5ObAwRSYGiNLEIXLOxzSpilZrCYTXvbzzohr4WqeOOQF3C2xhHNynLayhbCp4L8LqNhdRNyB6gic_Y_8a9tfzNRcRYESuWLm96AbsY/s1600/app_observation.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="888" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBU1nZmD7VBRbDdkoESnb0fBRhOeZQa22IbG4U5ObAwRSYGiNLEIXLOxzSpilZrCYTXvbzzohr4WqeOOQF3C2xhHNynLayhbCp4L8LqNhdRNyB6gic_Y_8a9tfzNRcRYESuWLm96AbsY/s320/app_observation.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The limiting magnitude was around 3.5, which means that a few constellations (including Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper) were visible. But I think if I had asked passersby how many stars they thought they could see, their initial guess would be either zero or perhaps "one or two". The problem is not only that the sky is bright, but especially that glaring lights and illuminated buildings make it hard to look at the sky with dark adapted eyes. Here is a street view several blocks away from the station:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg73SsBTkMXCiM7wxTrW3pQDIeVXX4q7RXv0yD43EChtwL8925-0_QWoJBlDWcmovvYZzXLakUgy1ITpPBeI9cxZLC1VmumuV40qRUnjlxV7oi20mn-I2i6tOA0RZ1oXlohVvw28BDkRnc/s1600/B.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1600" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg73SsBTkMXCiM7wxTrW3pQDIeVXX4q7RXv0yD43EChtwL8925-0_QWoJBlDWcmovvYZzXLakUgy1ITpPBeI9cxZLC1VmumuV40qRUnjlxV7oi20mn-I2i6tOA0RZ1oXlohVvw28BDkRnc/s320/B.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Street view in Brussels" by Christopher Kyba is licensed<br />
under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If you have to look up directly into a streetlight, you're not going to be able to seem much more than the streetlight... Contrast that contemporary view with <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_-_Terrasse_des_Caf%C3%A9s_an_der_Place_du_Forum_in_Arles_am_Abend1.jpeg" target="_blank">van Gogh's impression of a night scene in Arles</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AJ44UcnKMGpcgYbhQF2OqD4mlqyM1j_0YKBwtN6Cwhat52VewrUbTF0eoRfOdDztly060U7fy2ApCUSbSFqfnN3JD7fha2IO3TY0xvUoF999CuPDUZj_Chd6OZvnlNt6qg-O37wuA_o/s1600/600px-Van_Gogh_-_Terrasse_des_Cafe%25CC%2581s_an_der_Place_du_Forum_in_Arles_am_Abend1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AJ44UcnKMGpcgYbhQF2OqD4mlqyM1j_0YKBwtN6Cwhat52VewrUbTF0eoRfOdDztly060U7fy2ApCUSbSFqfnN3JD7fha2IO3TY0xvUoF999CuPDUZj_Chd6OZvnlNt6qg-O37wuA_o/s320/600px-Van_Gogh_-_Terrasse_des_Cafe%25CC%2581s_an_der_Place_du_Forum_in_Arles_am_Abend1.jpeg" width="243" /></a></div>
<br />
Van Gogh's scene is notable in how there are no glaring lamps at all,
and for the relative darkness of the building facades. The scene
provides an inspiration of what I think we should aim for in urban lighting:
warm feeling light, no glare, no street light directly shining on windows,
good uniformity in the pedestrian areas, and above it all, bright stars shining visibly in the night sky.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
If you look up again at my observation, you will see that for a number of stars I had to report that I wasn't sure if I could see them or not. These stars were mainly in the constellation Draco, which is quite extended, and therefore hard to orient towards when the sky is bright. I hope that in a future version of the app, we will be able to further optimize which stars the app asks you to examine. I recently requested funding from the EU for a big project, in which the Loss of the Night app plays a small part. If the proposal is successful, I would be able to produce a new version of the app sometime in 2019 or 2020. Please cross your fingers for me!<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-61597517826968473422018-08-20T06:09:00.003-07:002018-08-20T06:09:43.160-07:00Timelapse video of conversion of lamps from HPS to LED in InnsbruckChristoph Malin sent me this video quite a while ago, and I have been meaning to post it to the blog for ages. Check out his time lapse showing the same streets in Innsbruck, Austria lit with HPS and LED lights.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JvucGsonPNg/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JvucGsonPNg?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
Christoph is a photographer and cinematographer. You can follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/christophmalin" target="_blank">twitter</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-11851182859261005192018-08-15T05:06:00.002-07:002022-06-06T12:12:13.948-07:00Luojia-1, a new night imaging cubesatThis week I had a visit from <a href="http://www.lmars.whu.edu.cn/prof_web/lixi/en/index.html" target="_blank">Xi Li</a>, a professor at Wuhan University in China. Among many other things, we discussed the Luojia-1 cubesat which was designed by Wuhan University and launched several months ago. The satellite is already providing exciting imagery from a number of locations around the world. For example, compare the image of Berlin from the <a href="https://ngdc.noaa.gov/eog/download.html" target="_blank">DNB monthly composite</a> (left) to the Luojia-1 image (right) below.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3YJEIjoNJl1NRtstX0fCq8vvTwZS86nh2Au2MXHtwcu5kzz6PSJSbEM1_OwM0kvhgm3a9pFDeFqG2XPWe4e_ID4270sTfgPgkKQfe8QhsyVv9pt44zG212UDiyNfJsSPvCRtprc6gw4Y/s1600/Berlin_DNB_LJ-1_comparison.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="1600" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3YJEIjoNJl1NRtstX0fCq8vvTwZS86nh2Au2MXHtwcu5kzz6PSJSbEM1_OwM0kvhgm3a9pFDeFqG2XPWe4e_ID4270sTfgPgkKQfe8QhsyVv9pt44zG212UDiyNfJsSPvCRtprc6gw4Y/s400/Berlin_DNB_LJ-1_comparison.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two images of Berlin at different resolutions. Tegel airport is at top left,<br />
Schoenefeld/Berlin Brandenburg International airport is at bottom right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<br />
Luojia-1 takes images at a resolution of about 130 meters, a major improvement over the ~750 meter resolution of the DNB. The higher resolution makes it possible to see smaller features, such as the major road network of cities or individual bright large buildings. The downside of high resolution is that Luojia-1 can only take images of smaller areas, rather than imaging the entire world the way DNB does each night.<br />
<br />
In the coming years, Luojia-1will create a map of light emissions for the entire country of China. It will also acquire images of a number of cities worldwide, and will be tasked to take images of some areas for humanitarian regions, such as to provide information about infrastructure damage in war zones or overview of areas experiencing wildfires.<br />
<br />
The data acquired by Luojia-1 is made freely available a short time after it has been transmitted to Earth. The data is not yet radiometrically calibrated, but it is already georeferenced. (Note: in some of the photos from June, I noticed some relatively large errors in the georeferencing.In images from July, the error is typically only a few pixels).<br />
<br />
The team from Wuhan University has already produced a <a href="http://59.175.109.173:8888/" target="_blank">web portal</a> to allow everyone to discover and download the data.When you go to the site, a login screen will appear with the public login information already filled in. Click up at the top right to change the interface to English and log in.<br />
<br />
From the next page, you can use a tool to draw a polygon to select your region of interest and check whether imagery is available. Keep in mind that the satellite has only been acquiring data for a few months, and because it is a cubesat the total bandwidth available for downloading data is limited.<br />
<br />
I am looking forward to seeing the interesting results that come out of this new data source (as well as the data from another <a href="http://lightingjournal.org/index.php/path/article/view/68" target="_blank">upcoming cubesat</a> from the Adler Planetarium in Chicago)! If you have questions about the data or would like to request imagery for a specific location, contact <a href="http://www.lmars.whu.edu.cn/prof_web/lixi/en/index.html" target="_blank">Xi Li</a>.</p><p> </p><p><b>Update</b> 2022/06/06: Nicholas, for some reason Google isn't letting me reply to your comment below, so I'm adding a line here. I'm not sure what your units are (e.g. nW/cm^2sr or W/m^2sr), and in any case I'm not quite sure what sort of typical values one should expect from Luojia one. You may wish to contact Xi Li.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-39509217252943780792018-06-07T04:57:00.002-07:002020-06-24T01:56:16.572-07:00Perspective of a facade from aboveOne of the systematic issues that nighttime imagery has to deal with is the fact the orientation of lights and their position relative to buildings and other objects affects whether they can be seen from above. Take for example, these two images of the area near Berlin's Zoologischer Garten station.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXI90A51YWJNpGcqDQb-rAMwElrZz5EaM1xd3gwXZRDVv3GuRDlqcQzJb2-1ymvjJdoU_tY9od8IxfiUU6sOqNhKTjsQaBQMuRpJ-9dN3mJfYxpSW_KM6sRdgzy2mos04_zfeZI8qCltM/s1600/Berlin_zoo_animated.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="153" data-original-width="443" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXI90A51YWJNpGcqDQb-rAMwElrZz5EaM1xd3gwXZRDVv3GuRDlqcQzJb2-1ymvjJdoU_tY9od8IxfiUU6sOqNhKTjsQaBQMuRpJ-9dN3mJfYxpSW_KM6sRdgzy2mos04_zfeZI8qCltM/s320/Berlin_zoo_animated.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Alejandro Sanchez de Miguel, Christopher Kyba, and Freie Universität Berlin</span><br />
is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
When our aircraft was north of the area, it was able to see north facing facades that were illuminated. These illuminated facades are invisible, however, when viewed from the South. This means that when satellites take images of the Earth at night, the "answer" for how bright a city is depends to some extent on where the satellite was when it took the image.<br />
<br />
<b>Update</b> (August 5, 2019)<br />
<br />
My student Jacqueline Coesfeld <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/12/1964/htm" target="_blank">wrote a paper</a> that uses these images, and considers how this effect (and others) result in variations in how much light is seen by satellites from night to night. The paper is Open Access, so check it out!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2321526222994246040.post-51183669613567077722018-04-11T02:12:00.001-07:002018-04-11T02:13:50.273-07:00Great streetlamps in a Spanish villageLast summer I spent a single night in the Spanish village of Sant Pau d'Ordal. My room had a balcony, and a colleague and I spent several hours in the evening sitting on the balcony, talking shop, and watching a distant thunderstorm. The experience was really enjoyable, thanks to the well directed lighting in the village. Here is the view of the street from the balcony:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkT1s9jew5XDUzLN7FD0CofX-QTlpe9LUh35wdkXHd6URGdSHh7KQLqMyvRMRqpmcuVgQBnuXzNK7T_aD0A0ai5R0IRCmB7FD_HDDKPm1jO7_SKy5JGzElMwvFRSRqmBL5UWD1V7kEgvw/s1600/20170630_230240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkT1s9jew5XDUzLN7FD0CofX-QTlpe9LUh35wdkXHd6URGdSHh7KQLqMyvRMRqpmcuVgQBnuXzNK7T_aD0A0ai5R0IRCmB7FD_HDDKPm1jO7_SKy5JGzElMwvFRSRqmBL5UWD1V7kEgvw/s320/20170630_230240.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by <a href="http://lossofthenight.blogspot.de/2018/04/great-streetlamps-in-spanish-village.html" property="cc:attributionName" rel="cc:attributionURL" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Christopher Kyba</a> is licensed under a<br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9WHeM0KKW0Bcpq2dMSNFpkZbDZMQ5_8vj8ABP3K5Px_9Ur1DwizhaawPRTpWyVu52EG1CmG0699aWa5YBZ8QPaKAcumnRQT13FNdsvJYaNmm6jcIJp610Cv_Gg6YYeV1ucfA9OrEVMCg/s1600/20170630_230253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9WHeM0KKW0Bcpq2dMSNFpkZbDZMQ5_8vj8ABP3K5Px_9Ur1DwizhaawPRTpWyVu52EG1CmG0699aWa5YBZ8QPaKAcumnRQT13FNdsvJYaNmm6jcIJp610Cv_Gg6YYeV1ucfA9OrEVMCg/s320/20170630_230253.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by <a href="http://lossofthenight.blogspot.de/2018/04/great-streetlamps-in-spanish-village.html" property="cc:attributionName" rel="cc:attributionURL" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Christopher Kyba</a> is licensed under a<br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If the village lamps had directed light upwards, then the balcony would have been flooded with glaring light, and the experience would have been much less enjoyable. Beyond the full cutoff nature of the lamps, I was also impressed with the extent to which they kept the light on the street and sidewalk, and avoided lighting the trees. Here's the view from street level in daytime, notice the flat full cutoff design:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fM25H46J5RsHdT7imYqkH-EhSkfy74_EC5dWV4XhrihUxyld9lRUc50A-LLRpgE_rcoQ16lzp00F7mthfPXrRbz0gHblLRzIi6rrg5-YkiaROjD5gyCNE08wxgrytxvYejZZhhqMDVA/s1600/20170701_123733.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fM25H46J5RsHdT7imYqkH-EhSkfy74_EC5dWV4XhrihUxyld9lRUc50A-LLRpgE_rcoQ16lzp00F7mthfPXrRbz0gHblLRzIi6rrg5-YkiaROjD5gyCNE08wxgrytxvYejZZhhqMDVA/s320/20170701_123733.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work by <a href="http://lossofthenight.blogspot.de/2018/04/great-streetlamps-in-spanish-village.html" property="cc:attributionName" rel="cc:attributionURL" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Christopher Kyba</a> is licensed under a<br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</td></tr>
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Great job Sant Pau d'Ordal, and thanks for a wonderful experience!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1