Light Pollution
Light pollution in the night sky is something i've learnt about first had over the last few months. At first I liked seeing the glow, especially if there was a bit of cloud low in the sky in the distance, but now that I understand the negative impact on image quality I think it's a curse.
From WikiPedia:
Light pollution, also known as photopollution, is the presence of anthropogenic light in the night environment. It is exacerbated by excessive, misdirected or obtrusive uses of light, but even carefully used light fundamentally alters natural conditions. As a major side-effect of urbanization, it is blamed for compromising health, disrupting ecosystems and spoiling aesthetic environments.
Even though my location is 45km north of Sydney and 100km south of Newcastle in a rural type area, there is a significant impact from light pollution, especially from Sydney. My location is in a rural type area, I don't have street lights in my street and i'm in a bit of a valley nestled beside a National Park. When there is no moon to illuminate the sky it gets pretty dark, but if I go up on the ridge the light glow is obvious.
Knowing what I know now about light pollution i'll have to make the effort get my ass in the car with my growing collection of bits & pieces and head west 30 or 40 km. Another option is to look into light pollution filters designed for astronomy, this looks to be an expensive option but might be necessary in the long run.
From WikiPedia:
Light pollution, also known as photopollution, is the presence of anthropogenic light in the night environment. It is exacerbated by excessive, misdirected or obtrusive uses of light, but even carefully used light fundamentally alters natural conditions. As a major side-effect of urbanization, it is blamed for compromising health, disrupting ecosystems and spoiling aesthetic environments.
Even though my location is 45km north of Sydney and 100km south of Newcastle in a rural type area, there is a significant impact from light pollution, especially from Sydney. My location is in a rural type area, I don't have street lights in my street and i'm in a bit of a valley nestled beside a National Park. When there is no moon to illuminate the sky it gets pretty dark, but if I go up on the ridge the light glow is obvious.
Knowing what I know now about light pollution i'll have to make the effort get my ass in the car with my growing collection of bits & pieces and head west 30 or 40 km. Another option is to look into light pollution filters designed for astronomy, this looks to be an expensive option but might be necessary in the long run.
Light pollution data for your area is available at this link
Light glow from Sydney Australia, almost 50km away. Taken at 3am
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