The disappearing stars
 Move your mouse over the image to see the identical view from the outskirts of a City 
All four images were taken with an identical camera setup. Two looking toward Cygnus (top image), and two looking north towards the Plough (bottom image). The default shows two photographs taken from La Sagra, Granada, Southern Spain. Hover your mouse cursor over the images to see the same view from the outskirts of Leicester, UK. No processing has been done on the photographs whatsoever. All four photographs were taken using a Canon 10D digital camera, with a 120 second exposure, at f2.8, ISO400, and a 15mm wide angle lens. High resolution versions (~1Mb) are also available:
*All the photographs were taken without any tracking, with one exception; the photograph of the Milkyway from Spain was taken using a mini-EQ1 mount to track the stars. |
The light that is wasted upwards reflects off the atmosphere, causing the smog that hangs over all major cities at night (this smog is usually yellow thanks to ill-designed sodium street-lights) . The iris in your eye shrinks over the lens to stop this back-scattered light (the smog) from blinding you - but that also prevents you from seeing fainter stars. If you get far away from any light pollution, the pupil is allowed to expand to its maximum, letting as much light in as possible - and this allows you to see many more stars, including the beautiful disk of the galaxy in which we live stretching overhead.
Unfortunately, the once commonplace sight of the beautiful disk of our galaxy stretching overhead is denied to over 90% of the UK population - just because of ill directed lighting causing light pollution. The awe and wonder of the Universe has been lost to the younger generations.
Shown below is a replica of a stone circle in Leicester. Stone circles were built by people in a time when the stars were visible, unaffected by light pollution, and were often aligned with significant astronomical objects or events. As shown in this photo, glarey lights illuminate the square, and the standing stones are shown casting shadows from at least two other light sources out of shot, all of which drown out the view of the stars. Leicester's light pollution is blotting out over 95% of the stars that should have been visible in the night sky. Apparently, lighting up the night sky, and then over-lighting a sculpture to 'celebrate' another time when the stars were visible, is more important than allowing its present inhabitants to see the stars for themselves.
It is also affecting the ability of UK based amateur astronomers from making world-leading discoveries. An amateur astronomer in the US detected the emergence of a young star from the cocoon of gas and dust in which it was born. Such an event has only rarely been recorded by astronomers (see the BBC News story). "...follow-up observations to be carried out using the University of Hawaii 2.2 metre telescope, and then using the giant 8-metre Gemini telescope, also in Hawaii. [NOTE: Gemini is part-British] McNeil was amazed at the train of events following his discovery, 'The idea that this thing, first seen on my 3-inch telescope, which one can easily hold using one hand, would be observed, within 48 hours, by a telescope of 342 tons was absolutely staggering.'"
Amateur astronomers also routinely discover comets, asteroids (sometimes, potentially hazardous asteroids), and monitor the brightness behaviour of thousands of stars. However, light pollution is seriously undermining the ability of British based astronomers to take the lead in this cutting-edge field of science. Amateurs from less polluted countries, such as America, Australia, etc, are far more successful.