Ever been confronted with the term?


Apparently I'm a polluter...in league with a trade of 'light polluters'....

(do these nay sayers own candle stocks?)

The term was origionally used in astronomy as a refrence to scattered light from streetlights and such that affected their readings. Apparently the continential US is a bad place for visible light astronomy due to light pollution. The problem is a that "light pollution" sounds catchy. Now if a neighbors secruity light spills wrong it is light pollution. Solutions for light pollution involve better focus(down) On street and exterior security lights.

SD

A term used for light that is spilled away from the area intended to be lit. Usually applied to light that goes up into the sky. This makes it more difficult to view the stars and other night time sky objects. It becomes a very big deal if there is any type of observatory in the area. Areas with observatories may have local rules limiting the type of light fixtures that can be used.
Don

sorry for double post
Don

[This message has been edited by resqcapt19 (edited 08-28-2002).]

Another issue, is along coastal areas and sea animals, specifically Turtles

Roger

We retrofitted a gasoline canopy in a town on Mount Desert Island, Maine near Acadia Nat'l Park. This Island is the summer playhouse for the rich and famous(Martha Stewart, David Rockefeller and 100s of others). The original lights were 400w metal halide and the new ones were 320w metal halides with a special reflector( less amperage and more lumens). Several folks in the area freaked and complained to planning board. They made the oil company install barriers on one side to keep light from reflecting down the hill toward the water. Might as well of left the original lights

Sparky, et al
We had a situation at a outdoor tennis club.
Installed the new fixtures (1k MH, per plans.
The tennis players loved it.
The neighbors (2) had a "problem".
We re-aimed the fixtures, (twice at night)installed deep baffles, & crossed our fingers.
Twp Building Insp & zoning officer all cried "light pollution".
After a few nights at the site with a light meter, the Building & Zoning guys, and the neighbors, all was/is well.
HotLine1
John

Our British contingent will know the name Patrick Moore, probably the U.K.'s best known astonomer who has hosted "The Sky at Night" on BBC TV for over 40 years.

He regularly comments about the problem of light pollution when stargazing, perhaps not surprising as he lives on the south coast where our population density is very high.

Many people in this country are now installing PIR-switched 500W halogen floodlights for security. I know that in many towns there are frequent complaints from neighbors about the strong light sources causing "light pollution," particularly if the light happens to shine on a bedroom window.

Light pollution--not to be confused with heavy pollution.

I couldn't resist

ah! stargazers!

We have the members of a star gazing group called stellafane that decend on us from all over at an annual convention here.

They are proximal to a new prison being built, and have raised quite the discontent to it's illumination....




[This message has been edited by sparky (edited 08-28-2002).]

If anyone here has ever been to San Diego, CA you will notice all exterior lighting, both street and private property, is done with low pressure sodium lamps and downward facing lights with shields. This is due to the Palomar Observatory. There are bands laid out around this place with lighting requirements specific to each. The further out the band the less stringent the requirements. I just did a job that fell under one of the less stringent areas but it is about 100 miles away from the observatory as a crow flies.

The term is making it's way into the mainstream due to the boom in so-called Mcmansion (anyone understand the term?) housing. Many of the upscale ($600,00 & up) houses in my area are up-lit to the nth degree. I guess if you have it, flaunt it

Isn't it curious that years ago it was considered quite normal and adequate to have just a single 60W bulb in a room, yet in today's world where terms like "energy saving" and "light pollution" abound we have houses lit up like Times Square? (Make that Piccadilly Circus or Blackpool for my fellow Brits!)

Sparky,

Springfield, light pollution, new state prison, group in an uproar? STELLAFANE? Are you sure this isn't just a plot from an episode of the Simpsons?

I am an amateur astronomer and an electrician so I can relate to both sides of the issue. (I also sit on a zoning board.) I have installed lights that wouldn't create light polution. I have also installed a light that a neighbor called up and complained that the light I installed was too bright. ( We had to get a shield to block some of the light.) I also had to buy shields for lights (or side blinders as some are called) to prevent spill over of light onto the next door neighbor's yard. Most zoning/planning boards will allow light fixtures for parking lots but they usually ask for the "shoebox" or downlight type of lights. This way all the light shines down and not on the neighbors yard.

Harold

There is more, look here:

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/nelpag.html

Another pseudo-legal term is “light trespass.”

Presumably some time ago an observatory in {Tucson?} Arizona had problems with mercury-vapor light interfering with their work, and was fixed by replacement of area lighting with high-pressure sodium fixtures in outdoor areas. Ehh, there’s http://www.rasc.ca/light/print/ida-let.htm “Lost Heritage” http://www.nmt.edu/mainpage/news/2001/23mar02.html “Night Sky Protection Act” www.darksky.org/papers/rasc_art.html “mercury vapor lighting" http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/nelpag/CIRC012.html “New England Light Pollution Advisory Group”

some goood links, i've heard of some of this..


lol!
it would make a good one... my van, with it's light bulb logo would most likely be the object of Bart's wrath.....

Right, wrong or otherwise...one way to deal with it is find a way to make money from it.