Bring Out the Stars

Here's a project I could go for. Try to get rid of the light pollution. This town in New Zealand has the right idea. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090208/ap_on_re_au_an/as_new_zealand_embracing_the_dark_1

I can't stand the street lights outside my house. And the new shopping center a mile away has screwed up the sky even more. Seems like a little redesign would save a lot of power and give us back a few stars.

Geoff

Light pollution sucks.... it takes power away from our flashlights.

Until about a year ago, I lived in the 'Randstad', the most densely populated area of this country. It simply never went dark there. There was always this orange glow in the sky.
Then I moved to the South, here lightpolution is still pretty bad, but at least you can see more than 5 stars here at night, and just a few miles away there is a national park where it still gets pretty dark at night, from ground level at least. Once you're high enough to see over the trees, Youll see that orange glow on the horizon again.

Sounds like a great place to stargaze. I spent last summer in Northern Wisconsin, and the sky up there was breathtaking compared to the one I'm used to looking up at.

Nice article on light pollution at National Geographic.

Published Nov. 2008