Darkness Is Spreading
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GLOBE at Night: Using Sky Quality Meters to Measure Sky Brightness
GLOBE at Night: using Sky Quality Meters to measure sky brightness This document includes: • How to observe with the SQM o The SQM, finding latitude and longitude, when to observe, taking and reporting measurements, what do the numbers mean, comparing results • Demonstrating light pollution o Background in light pollution and lighting, materials needed for the shielding demo, doing the shielding demo • Capstone activities (and resources) • Appendix: An excel file for multiple measurements CREDITS This document on citizen-scientists using Sky Quality Meters to monitor light pollution levels in their community was a collaborative effort between Connie Walker at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Chuck Bueter of nightwise.org, Anna Hurst of ASP’s Astronomy from the Ground Up program, Vivian White and Marni Berendsen of ASP’s Night Sky Network and Kim Patten of the International Dark-Sky Association. Observations using the Sky Quality Meter (SQM) The Sky Quality Meters (SQMs) add a new twist to the GLOBE at Night program. They expand the citizen science experience by making it more scientific and more precise. The SQMs allow citizen-scientists to map a city at different locations to identify dark sky oases and even measure changes over time beyond the GLOBE at Night campaign. This document outlines how to make and report SQM observations. Important parts of the SQM ! Push start button here. ! Light enters here. ! Read out numbers here. The SQM Model The SQM-L Model Using the SQM There are two models of Sky Quality Meters. Information on the newer model, the SQM- L, can be found along with the instruction sheet at http://unihedron.com/projects/sqm-l/. -
International Dark Sky Parks Guidelines
INTERNATIONAL DARK-SKY ASSOCIATION 3223 N First Ave - Tucson Arizona 85719 USA - +1 520-293-3198 - www.darksky.org TO PRESERVE AND PROTECT THE NIGHTTIME ENVIRONMENT AND OUR HERIT- AGE OF DARK SKIES THROUGH ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE OUTDOOR LIGHTING International Dark Sky Park Program Guidelines June 2018 IDA International Dark Sky Park Designation Guidelines TABLE OF CONTENTS DEFINITION OF AN IDA DARK SKY PARK .................................................................. 3 GOALS OF DARK SKY PARK CREATION ................................................................... 3 DESIGNATION BENEFITS ............................................................................................ 3 ELIGIBILITY ................................................................................................................... 4 MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL PARKS ............................................................ 5 LIGHTING MANAGEMENT PLAN ................................................................................. 8 LIGHTING INVENTORY ............................................................................................... 10 PROVISIONAL STATUS .............................................................................................. 12 IDSP APPLICATION PROCESS .................................................................................. 13 NOMINATION ........................................................................................................... 13 STEPS FOR APPLICANT ........................................................................................ -
Fire As a Physical Process
1.3 Energy transfer and the stages of combustion Understanding the principles of combustion, can we begin to see how fires initiate and spread? To complete the fire triangle, energy must move through space from a source to a “fuel” initiation oxygen energy THE COMBUSTION TRIANGLE How does this happen? combustible material Heat is a form of energy • Heat (or thermal energy) is proportional to molecular movement of matter, i.e., kinetic energy (KE) • The Kelvin scale measures the energy content of matter, starting at absolute 0 (- 273° C) • Heated objects emit radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS): • In the range we will deal with, mostly in the infrared • Even higher velocities emit in higher-frequency bands of the EMS See the “Ask a Scientist” excerpt posted for this lecture international light association, http://www.international-light-association.org Three basic modes of energy transfer: Conduction Radiation Convection A general principle of heat transfer: • Heat transfers between bodies according to the second law of thermodynamics (which in this case says that heat flows from high to low energy states, i.e., hot to cold bodies – In other words, heat flows down energy gradients – This goes a long way to explaining much of how fires behave 1. Conduction Movement of energy through a solid, or between solids in contact by molecular motion • Depends on thermal conductivity and energy gradient of material (conductors, insulators) • Also depends on amount of area of contact • Examples? • touching a hot metal object, e.g. a saucepan handle • heating water by an immersion coil • melting lead solder with a soldering iron • putting an ice cube on your skin Conductivity (ability of a material to conduct energy) The transfer of heat between molecules in contact with one another. -
A Tungsten Filament Is Drawn to a Very Uniform Diameter When It Is Manufactured
http://invsee.eas.asu.edu/nmodules/lightbulbmod/burnout.html A tungsten filament is drawn to a very uniform diameter when it is manufactured. As a result, when a light bulb is first turned on the filament emits light relatively evenly along the length of the filament. Explore the failure of a filament using the following movie which shows an accelerated view of a filament failing. Notice how the light emitted from the filament changes intensity and location with time. Why does the filament get bright at one point before it fails ? Standard electrical outlets in the United States provide 110 volt (V) electricity. For an incandescent light bulb, the electric current (i) used to heat the filament is determined by the electrical resistance (R) of the filament according to Ohm’s Law: V = i R Electric power (P) is the rate of conversion of electrical energy to another form, such as heat. For a resistor, such as a tungsten light bulb filament, the power may be expressed as: P = i2 R = V2/R. The voltage drop across the filament is essentially constant. As a result, when R varies, so does i. In particular, R can vary locally with the cross-sectional area of the filament: R = ρ (l/s), where ρ is the specific resistance of tungsten (ohms), l is the length of a filament region (cm) and s is the cross-sectional area of the filament region locally (cm2). If the cross-sectional area of the filament changes with time to vary along its length, the current passing through each part of the filament will remain constant. -
Measuring Night Sky Brightness: Methods and Challenges
Measuring night sky brightness: methods and challenges Andreas H¨anel1, Thomas Posch2, Salvador J. Ribas3,4, Martin Aub´e5, Dan Duriscoe6, Andreas Jechow7,13, Zolt´anKollath8, Dorien E. Lolkema9, Chadwick Moore6, Norbert Schmidt10, Henk Spoelstra11, G¨unther Wuchterl12, and Christopher C. M. Kyba13,7 1Planetarium Osnabr¨uck,Klaus-Strick-Weg 10, D-49082 Osnabr¨uck,Germany 2Universit¨atWien, Institut f¨urAstrophysik, T¨urkenschanzstraße 17, 1180 Wien, Austria tel: +43 1 4277 53800, e-mail: [email protected] (corresponding author) 3Parc Astron`omicMontsec, Comarcal de la Noguera, Pg. Angel Guimer`a28-30, 25600 Balaguer, Lleida, Spain 4Institut de Ci`encies del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona, C.Mart´ıi Franqu´es 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain 5D´epartement de physique, C´egep de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Qu´ebec, J1E 4K1, Canada 6Formerly with US National Park Service, Natural Sounds & Night Skies Division, 1201 Oakridge Dr, Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA 7Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587 Berlin, Germany 8E¨otv¨osLor´andUniversity, Savaria Department of Physics, K´arolyi G´asp´ar t´er4, 9700 Szombathely, Hungary 9National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 3720 Bilthoven, The Netherlands 10DDQ Apps, Webservices, Project Management, Maastricht, The Netherlands 11LightPollutionMonitoring.Net, Urb. Ve¨ınatVerneda 101 (Bustia 49), 17244 Cass`ade la Selva, Girona, Spain 12Kuffner-Sternwarte,Johann-Staud-Straße 10, A-1160 Wien, Austria 13Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany Abstract Measuring the brightness of the night sky has become an increasingly impor- tant topic in recent years, as artificial lights and their scattering by the Earth’s atmosphere continue spreading around the globe. -
Studying Light Pollution in and Around Tucson, AZ
Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU Physics Capstone Project Physics Student Research Summer 2013 Studying Light Pollution in and Around Tucson, AZ Rachel K. Nydegger Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/phys_capstoneproject Part of the Physics Commons Recommended Citation Nydegger, Rachel K., "Studying Light Pollution in and Around Tucson, AZ" (2013). Physics Capstone Project. Paper 3. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/phys_capstoneproject/3 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Physics Student Research at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Physics Capstone Project by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Studying Light Pollution in and around Tucson, AZ KPNO REU Summer Report 2013 Rachel K. Nydegger Utah State University, Kitt Peak National Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory Advisor: Constance E. Walker National Optical Astronomy Observatory ABSTRACT Eight housed data logging Sky Quality Meters (SQMs) are being used to gather light pollution data in southern Arizona: one at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, four located at cardinal points at the outskirts of the city, and three situated at observatories on surrounding mountain tops. To examine specifically the effect of artificial lights, the data are reduced to exclude three natural contributors to lighting the night sky, namely, the sun, the moon, and the Milky Way. Faulty data (i.e., when certain parameters were met) were also excluded. Data were subsequently analyzed by a recently developed night sky brightness model (Duriscoe (2013)). During the monsoon season in southern Arizona, the SQMs were removed from the field to be tested for sensitivity to a range of wavelengths and temperatures. -
A Guide to Smartphone Astrophotography National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration A Guide to Smartphone Astrophotography National Aeronautics and Space Administration A Guide to Smartphone Astrophotography A Guide to Smartphone Astrophotography Dr. Sten Odenwald NASA Space Science Education Consortium Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland Cover designs and editing by Abbey Interrante Cover illustrations Front: Aurora (Elizabeth Macdonald), moon (Spencer Collins), star trails (Donald Noor), Orion nebula (Christian Harris), solar eclipse (Christopher Jones), Milky Way (Shun-Chia Yang), satellite streaks (Stanislav Kaniansky),sunspot (Michael Seeboerger-Weichselbaum),sun dogs (Billy Heather). Back: Milky Way (Gabriel Clark) Two front cover designs are provided with this book. To conserve toner, begin document printing with the second cover. This product is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement number NNH15ZDA004C. [1] Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 5 How to use this book ..................................................................................................................................... 9 1.0 Light Pollution ....................................................................................................................................... 12 2.0 Cameras ................................................................................................................................................ -
Unit 1: What Is Energy?
UNIT 1: WHAT IS ENERGY? TEACHER OVERVIEW The three essential resources for any nation are food, water and energy. As a matter of fact, it is energy that helps produce more food and cleaner water for our ever growing global population. Securing and producing enough energy often becomes critical to economic and social stability throughout the world, so we need to know and understand as much as we can about our energy resources. Understanding where energy comes from and how we use it is more important now that at any time in our past as we want to provide a better and longer life for our global community. The energy concept is fundamentally scientific in nature, but it has tremendous personal and social significance. Energy is one of the most fundamental parts of our universe. We cannot see, hear or touch energy, yet we use energy every day. Although energy isn’t visible, we can detect evidence of energy. Movement, sound, heat, and light provide evidence that energy is present and being used. Energy from the sun lights the earth during the day and is used by plants to produce food. Energy lights up our homes and towns; provides the power for our modes of transportation (planes, trains, vehicles, rockets, etc.); warms and cools our homes; cooks our meals; plays our music; powers our phones, computers, tablets and televisions; powers the machinery used by factories, farmers, and construction workers; and too many others to mention. The Sun provides the energy for producers in a food chain to produce food for nearly all other organisms for their survival. -
July 2019 Cresset
July/August 2019 Bottisham Community Sports and Social Club Now that summer is upon us why not take a stroll to the club and enjoy some of the early evening sunshine with friends and family and sample some of our fine range of guest beers, lagers and wines not to mention our very popular gins, all the family are welcome including the dog. As a committee we would like to thank all our members old and new for their support and custom throughout the first half of this year, we have enjoyed some fantastic events and evenings and we look forward to many more in the coming months, with your continued support. After the success of last year’s Craft Fair we will be holding another one this year, we do have limited spaces so if anyone is interested please leave a name and email address, or phone number with a member of staff at the club and we will contact you with the details. WHATS ON July 20th Live Music from Kim Lane , tickets available at the bar. October 26th Children’s Halloween Disco, Fancy dress . November 16th Five Ska are back sure to be a sell out, book early. November 24th Craft Fair . New Years Eve Back by popular request All Glammed Up. FRIDAY NIGHTS Our members draw £100 takes place between 9.00 and 10.30, you must be in the club at the time to win it. Members play your cards right as of June 10th over £3000 and the weekly meat draw are also available. -
Lamps = Sources: Points, Blobs, and Lines
Lamps = Sources: Points, Blobs, and Lines All life on earth evolved under both sunlight and darkness. This light and dark cycle not only allowed for various activities, but Light Sources Secondary Light Sources Eyes Brain evolved to regulate all species circadian rhythm – internal biological clock. Generators – Modifiers and Re-transmitters Receivers – Decoder – Transmitters Encoders Interpreter Sun, Discharge lamps, Atmosphere, Air, Water, Planets, Lenses, Cornea, Iris, Lens, Analysis, fluorescent lamps. Windows, Tress – All natural or manufactured Rods & Cones, Identification Incandescent lamps, objects which modify light waves before they Optic Nerves Association Open flames, etc. reach the eye. Perception Invented in 1880 - Only 125 years in our environment! IN THE BEGINNING IN THE BEGINNING Let There Be Light! - (c 4.5 Billion BC) FIRE, FLAME and TORCH - (c 400,000 BC) In the beginning it was dark and cold. There was no sun, no light, no Homo erectus probably discovered fire by accident. Fire was most earth, no solar system. There was nothing, just the empty void of likely given to man as a 'gift from the heavens' when a bolt of space. Then slowly, about 4.5 billion years ago, a swirling nebula, - a lightning struck a tree or a bush, suddenly starting it on fire. huge cloud of gas and dust was formed. Eventually this cloud The flaming touch and the campfire probably constituted early contracted and grew into a central molten mass that became our sun. man's first use of 'artificial' lighting. For the first time man gained At first the sun was a molten glow. As the core pressure increased, some small degree of freedom from the blindness of night, and and the temperature rose to millions of degrees - a star was born. -
Assisting Glacier National Park in Achieving Full International Dark Sky Park Status
Assisting Glacier National Park in Achieving Full International Dark Sky Park Status Student Authors Project Advisors Evan Buckley Frederick Bianchi, Casey Gosselin [email protected] Sullivan Mulhern Worcester Polytechnic Institute Larson Ost Fred Looft, Bridget Wirtz [email protected] Worcester Polytechnic Institute [email protected] Project Sponsor Tara Carolin, Glacier National Park October 16, 2020 Registration Code: FB-8801 Assisting Glacier National Park in Achieving Full International Dark Sky Park Status October 16, 2020 Authors: Evan Buckley Casey Gosselin Sullivan Mulhern Larson Ost Bridget Wirtz Submitted to: Tara Carolin Glacier National Park Professors Frederick Bianchi and Fred Looft Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, MA This project report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. For further questions or inquiries about this project, contact the project advisors using the listed emails. Abstract The purpose of this project was to assist Glacier National Park with advancing from a provisional International Dark Sky Park (IDSP) status to a full IDSP status. To accomplish this, the park’s lighting inventory, dark sky educational programs, and night sky quality were evaluated. We determined that Glacier National Park’s sky quality has improved since becoming a provisional IDSP and we created resources to facilitate and expand the park’s dark sky educational outreach programs. Our analysis determined that the park is on track to achieve its IDSP goals by March of 2021. -
The National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Dark Skies and Energy Education Program Constellation at Your Fingertips: Crux 1
The National Optical Astronomy Observatory’s Dark Skies and Energy Education Program Constellation at Your Fingertips: Crux Grades: 3rd – 8th grade Overview: Constellation at Your Fingertips introduces the novice constellation hunter to a method for spotting the main stars in the constellation Crux, the Cross. Students will make an outline of the constellation used to locate the stars in Crux. This activity will engage children and first-time night sky viewers in observations of the night sky. The lesson links history, literature, and astronomy. The simplicity of Crux makes learning to locate a constellation and observing exciting for young learners. All materials for Globe at Night are available at http://www.globeatnight.org Purpose: Students will look for the faintest stars visible and record that data in order to compare data in Globe at Night across the world. In many cases, multiple night observations will build knowledge of how the “limiting” stellar magnitudes for a location change overtime. Why is this important to astronomers? Why do we see more stars in some locations and not others? How does this change over time? The focus is on light pollution and the options we have as consumers when purchasing outdoor lighting. The impact in our environment is an important issue in a child’s world. Crux is a good constellation to observe with young children. The constellation Crux (also known as the Southern Cross) is easily visible from the southern hemisphere at practically any time of year. For locations south of 34°S, Crux is circumpolar and thus always visible in the night sky.