Protecting our Dark Skies

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

Posted by Martin Kyte on 13/06/2016 10:50:19:

Circadian rhythms are something our lab are very involved with Michael.

**LINK**

regards Martin

Do you mind if I post that link on another forum Martin as others I'm sure would be interested to read it.

Thanks

Damian

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I live in a country area, the night sky is fast disappearing. Round here a lot of this extra light seems to be coming from the new houses, fast built kit buildings. The new owners put intrusion alarms and very bright lamps, some even come on when driving past. This has got me thinking- are we all getting scared of the dark ? I am out most nights and most times don't use a torch, can see well enough by moon or star light. Why do main roads have lights, modern cars have good headlights. I can see a congested city needing extra road lights but not a normal road. Just my rant of the day, but I do wonder if people are developing a fear of the unknown.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Hi Damien

Of course you can post. It's our external site and is designed to inform. If you click on (you may have already) the personal group page link at the top you will get the Royal Society Exhibition video demo's.

regards Martin

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

Thank you Martin

Just posted it

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

The petition has nearly reached 6000 signatures.

Thanks to all that have read this thread and contributed to that.

Another 4000 signatures are still required to have this discussed in parliament.

Thank you all for your ongoing support in this.

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

The petition is going well but still needs a few more signatures guys.

Please give a little time to read through this thread and add your support.

Many thanks to you all.

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

Petition is now up to just over 6500 signatures which is really good.

Just over a month to go so please help and sign to protect our skies.

Thanks

[Steven VineParticipant @stevenvine79904]

Hi Damian.

Are you putting the word out on other home workshop type internet websites?

Steve

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

Hi Steve

Myself and others are asking members of quite a few web sites , groups, Social media and news mediums.

I am just one of many some of whom have wrote to the press (with not much success tbh) but we are trying.

If anyone has suggestions we are more than willing to hear them and pursue these.

Tim Peake’s ISS mission showed how the earth is lit up on it’s dark side and this has boosted the numbers. Admittedly it is not in the forefront of peoples minds when you think of pollution but raising awareness is just a start.

I’m no campaigner myself but just want to do my bit.

Cheers

Damian

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

Hi all

Thought I would post an update on this as it may have slipped from view.

The petition is nearing closure and has 23 days left to run.

An amazing 48hours have left it requiring less than 200 signitures to raise a response.

If you’ve not managed to lend your support please try to and push it over the final hurdle.

The link is on the first post

Thanks

[Steven VineParticipant @stevenvine79904]

Wow. The signature count has suddenly jumped up to over 9800. There is some marketing going on there! Kudos.

Steve

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Best of luck everyone, this is an area certainly suffering an attention deficit, especially in some of our cities.

Michael W

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

The petition may not be necessary if all the lights go out. !

Martin

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

Many thanks for all the comments guys and for reading through this thread.

A few timely articles have brought this to the attention of the general public and lent much support to the cause. The latest is of the onset of spring in inner cities due to the move to LED lighting.

I am pleased to say that the raised awareness has boosted the signature count and the 10k threshold has been surpassed. This will get a response.

Obviously this is just a small start but it cannot be ignored now.

[Martin NewboldParticipant @martinnewbold]

In my area we are lucky my council has just changed all of our lights in the street to down lighters and nice low wenergy ones so viewing is cool. NIce t meet you

[Enough!Participant @enough]

This is pretty informative (click on the "large" link for a better view).

(Note that it doesn't depict light pollution per se but plots the affect of that pollution on the visual appearance of the night sky).

Edited By Bandersnatch on 01/07/2016 01:27:15

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

Cheers for commenting guys.
There’s some good info in those posts and shows how the skies are affected by different types of lighting and its densities.
Glad the problem is being acknowledged and hopefully more awareness will be generated about it in the near future.

Clear dark skies all

Damian

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Led Street lighting may not be the boon to astronomy that it appears. The down lighter aspect is positive as it reduces the emissions required for the lamp and for the naked eye generally the sky will be darker. However the big plus for Low Pressure Sodium Street Lamps even if they light up the sky is that the emissions are confined to the two wavelengths around 589.3nm which for telescope users is simple to filter out. Introduction of wide band emitters means we lose this capability. So as with most things there is a balance to be struck.

regards Martin

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

Agreed Martin that the specific band width of sodium lighting can be filtered out where as LEDs cover the complete spectrum.

There is also discussions on LED lighting solutions using too much blue in their construction.This has a negative effect on nature as well as the development of the eyes in the young.

Lots of info coming to the web about the negatives that LEDs are bringing so all is not well.

The petition looks set to reach 11k signatures before it ends on the 22nd of this month. I’d like to thank again all of you that supported this and those that have read and contributed to the thread.

Damian

[damianParticipant @damiannoble34800]

Hi all,

I'd like to update that the petition closed with a signature total of 11638 so a response from the government was posted. It laid out a lot of retrospective legislation which can be built on.

I'm sure those that signed will have received an email detailing the response which gives various links to how the law stands.

I would like to thank all those again that supported this to say myself and others will continue to pursue the protection of our dark skies for the sake of the stars, nature and health and look further into what can be done to reduce the light pollution within the existing legislation and by pushing for changes to further enforce this.

Best regards

Damian

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Thanks Damian

Neil

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