Light pollution in the UK

What is the status of any public uproars (well, public uproars only in
the astronomy community, that is!) on curbing this *disease* that's out
to ruin all future stargazing fun for amateurs in the UK and worldwide
alike? Has there been any serious legislation proposed/drafted to
control this problem going forward?

Has anyone proposed forwarding a million-signature petition to Tony
Blair yet?! I don't think he's into astronomy personally... if he were,
he would have prevented a lot of it a long time ago. Is there ANY
politician who is a keen astronomer or has a strong bias in favour of
astronomy?

Probably a topic that's been on everyone's mind, but the problem in
Luton is just getting worse and worse.

Abdul Ahad

"AA Institute" wrote in message
oups.com...
What is the status of any public uproars (well, public uproars only in
the astronomy community, that is!) on curbing this *disease* that's out
to ruin all future stargazing fun for amateurs in the UK and worldwide
alike? Has there been any serious legislation proposed/drafted to
control this problem going forward?

Probably a topic that's been on everyone's mind, but the problem in
Luton is just getting worse and worse.

Abdul Ahad

Try living in Milton Keynes! Immediately to the front of my garden there is
a foot and cycle "Redway" which has its own lighting; a little further away
there is the road on which I live with its own lighting, About 100m in
front of my house is the A442 dual carriageway (H3), and a shorter distance
to my right is a single lane road (V9). Both these have lighting different
in colour to the Redway and local road. And finally, there's the roundabout
where H3 meets V9. That has brilliant "white" metal halide lighting (I
think).
My back garden is better, particularly in summer when the trees' leaves
screen the lights on V9, but my neighbour's eucalyptus has grown enormously
in the last year, and I can no longer view to the S at any sensible
altitude.
I have taken my ETX105 to local "dark sites" (about 10 miles away) and was
disappointed to find that, using my EOS10D, that the sky background whilst
appearing dark visually, was only about 1/4 the level seen from my garden*.
(give or take lots of experimental error g!) * based on exposure time for
similar orange glow.

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm

"Malcolm Stewart" wrote in
message ...

front of my house is the A442 dual carriageway (H3), and a shorter
distance

correction should be A422

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK

JRS: In article .com
, dated Sun, 17 Jul 2005 11:11:42, seen in news:uk.sci.astronomy, AA
Institute posted :
What is the status of any public uproars (well, public uproars only in
the astronomy community, that is!) on curbing this *disease* that's out
to ruin all future stargazing fun for amateurs in the UK and worldwide
alike? Has there been any serious legislation proposed/drafted to
control this problem going forward?

The refurbished High Street here has lamps built into the grids that
surround the trees - they point vertically upwards.

It seems a really silly idea; and, if the fittings are not
indestructible, also dangerous.

--
© John Stockton, Surrey, UK. Turnpike v4.00 MIME. ©
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
Astro stuff via astron-1.htm, gravity0.htm ; quotings.htm, pascal.htm, etc.
No Encoding. Quotes before replies. Snip well. Write clearly. Don't Mail News.

I understood that as of January 4th this year light pollution is required
to be stopped by law if a person complains that the pollution spills onto
their property. This applies to street lighting.

However, since I havent seen anyone use this law I wonder if it actually
came to pass. Anyone know?

I fly airliners for a living and am always amazed at the amount of light we
send to space. maybe councils havent heard yet, but we dont REALLY follow
roads!


david
"AA Institute" wrote in message
oups.com...
What is the status of any public uproars (well, public uproars only in
the astronomy community, that is!) on curbing this *disease* that's out
to ruin all future stargazing fun for amateurs in the UK and worldwide
alike? Has there been any serious legislation proposed/drafted to
control this problem going forward?

Has anyone proposed forwarding a million-signature petition to Tony
Blair yet?! I don't think he's into astronomy personally... if he were,
he would have prevented a lot of it a long time ago. Is there ANY
politician who is a keen astronomer or has a strong bias in favour of
astronomy?

Probably a topic that's been on everyone's mind, but the problem in
Luton is just getting worse and worse.

Abdul Ahad

Malcolm Stewart wrote:
"AA Institute" wrote in message
oups.com...
What is the status of any public uproars (well, public uproars only in
the astronomy community, that is!) on curbing this *disease* that's out
to ruin all future stargazing fun for amateurs in the UK and worldwide
alike? Has there been any serious legislation proposed/drafted to
control this problem going forward?

Probably a topic that's been on everyone's mind, but the problem in
Luton is just getting worse and worse.

Abdul Ahad

Try living in Milton Keynes! Immediately to the front of my garden there is
a foot and cycle "Redway" which has its own lighting; a little further away
there is the road on which I live with its own lighting, About 100m in
front of my house is the A442 dual carriageway (H3), and a shorter distance
to my right is a single lane road (V9). Both these have lighting different
in colour to the Redway and local road. And finally, there's the roundabout
where H3 meets V9. That has brilliant "white" metal halide lighting (I
think).
My back garden is better, particularly in summer when the trees' leaves
screen the lights on V9, but my neighbour's eucalyptus has grown enormously
in the last year, and I can no longer view to the S at any sensible
altitude.
I have taken my ETX105 to local "dark sites" (about 10 miles away) and was
disappointed to find that, using my EOS10D, that the sky background whilst
appearing dark visually, was only about 1/4 the level seen from my garden*.
(give or take lots of experimental error g!) * based on exposure time for
similar orange glow.

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm

Thanks Malc, I can see exactly where your problem is. You're right to
say that light pollution extends far beyond the actual source. I view
MK from 5 miles as the crow flies and my southern horizon is orange
mush. I long to see the Milky Way dipping out and into the Channel
from the Isle of Purbeck.
At Milton Keynes Astronomical Society, our scouts have found a
reasonably dark site near Thornborough. Good for constellation imaging
and meteor observing.

Pierre

Abdul,
There was an enquiry held by the Science and Technology at the House of
Commons 2-3 years ago about Astronomy and Light Pollution.
The conclusions they reached were encouraging but you'll have to wait
some time before you notice anything different.
You can now do something about your neighbour's 'Rottweiler' security
light under a bill that came into effect earlier this year. Somehow,
local councils are not included in this and they have adopted instead
a policy of improvement through renewal. This could take years.....

Pierre

david wrote:
I understood that as of January 4th this year light pollution is required
to be stopped by law if a person complains that the pollution spills onto
their property. This applies to street lighting.

That sounds really promising, if such a law actually applies.
Thankfully my garden is not directly in view of any street lighting, as
it overlooks a railway line at the back. But I am concerned about the
total amount of unwanted light that the town as a whole throws up into
the sky. We have Luton Airport expansion plans on the cards too, and
that can only make things worse in the future.

For me, the biggest loss over the past couple of decades has been in
star colours. At one time, Betelgeuse used to look deep red and
Arcturus was a solid orange. Now the colours have really faded.
Arcturus appears yellowish at best, and not to mention the rich Milky
Way starfields around Cygnus. A casual binocular sweep on a summer's
night then would show the deepest concentration of stars - literally
"clouds" of them - with occasional red/orange stars looking nicely
contrasted against the blue-white ones.

Now, it's all looking very thin and colourless... and it's not down to
my aging eyesight, because photographically it's the same!


However, since I havent seen anyone use this law I wonder if it actually
came to pass. Anyone know?

I fly airliners for a living and am always amazed at the amount of light we
send to space. maybe councils havent heard yet, but we dont REALLY follow
roads!

I wonder if there is such a thing as a "light pollution index" (LPI)
measure for the UK? Example: 1980 LPI=100.0; 1990 LPI=145; LPI=175,
etc.

Such a measure could be obtained from an Earth observing satellite
passing over the British Isles and measuring total stray light thrown
up from all of the bulit up areas at night, up and down the length of
the country. Greater London would no doubt account for 80% + of such an
LPI index for the whole of the British Isles...

It would also enable a quantitative gauge on how bad it's really
getting over time. And if any caring authority really wanted to keep
light pollution under control, it could set targets like "LPI reduction
of 20% by 2020, 25% by 2050", etc.

Abdul Ahad

Pierre writes

Somehow,
local councils are not included in this and they have adopted instead
a policy of improvement through renewal. This could take years.....

On energy efficiency grounds, householders are now required to fit only
certified double glazing (or pay a council official to certify it). A
proactive policy on public lighting would cost money. (It's all about
money really.)

--
Hil

"Pierre" wrote in message
ups.com...

Thanks Malc, I can see exactly where your problem is. You're right to
say that light pollution extends far beyond the actual source. I view
MK from 5 miles as the crow flies and my southern horizon is orange
mush. I long to see the Milky Way dipping out and into the Channel
from the Isle of Purbeck.
At Milton Keynes Astronomical Society, our scouts have found a
reasonably dark site near Thornborough. Good for constellation imaging
and meteor observing.

Pierre

I understand that the replacement of the older sodium D line lamps by the
wider spectrum stuff is driven by the the requirements of CCTV and witnesses
to crime (so that their descriptions of their assailants clothing colours
are more accurate). Try the GE street lighting website for more info.
There's a new housing estate on the V10/H7 area that is being kitted out
with near white domestic street lighting.

Coincidence? The "dark site" where I did my checks was just outside
Thornton in a field on the road to Thornborough.

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm