The Observation Deck

I have once again gotten into watching the stars and planets, and while I remember being able to see many more stars, I never remember them as pictured out west, or as they appear in the middle of nowhere, with no light or air pollution. Kind of a shame, with the rivers coming back, with trout and salmon, the wildlife coming back with bald eagles, red foxes, otters, osprey etc. Maybe the city should look at correcting light pollution. It would add to the quality of life, and make it nice to walk around in.



http://darksky.org/light-pollution/

To get into what Dark Skies International calls dark skies, there is one small area near Geneva on the Lake, and that is about it in Ohio.

Last night while working on a car, I looked up and it seemed clear, anyone can see the moon,


04.17.2016

With cameras and even phones, you can let it adjust slightly for the light, and you get to see...


Not as good as out west, but pretty nice. Notice the meteorite near lower corner. The red is light pollution sneaking in.

To my friends and neighbors, read the articles, and look at some of the great options that are better for safety, lighting, saves energy, and could allow us to enjoy late nights looking upwards.

Join the fight for dark skies again!
http://darksky.org/

.

If the city is installing and converting to LED street lights, that is an important moment to specify the color temperature and dispersion of lights that best follow Dark Skies guidelines.

I sit in the backyard in the evening and get blasted by spot lights it sucks.

Not as good as out west, but pretty nice.

Jim, I enjoy your photography quite a bit. But not as good as out west is a complete understatement. The sky is supposed to look more like this:

Motion-activated Security Lights on houses and garages, are a new, SIGNIFICANT form of local light pollution. You can be in bed, and a raccoon runs through your neighbor's yard, his high-aimed security light on his garage turns on, and lights up three walls and ceiling of your bedroom.
Most people, when installing their security lights, do not consider that it may be aimed at their neighbor's house, or bedroom, or living room.
I have had a neighbor at my rental house, politely request that we pull the bulb out of the security light that lit the common driveway - because it shone in their bedroom when the light went on. So we removed the bulb.
One across the street from me, is aimed straight out and is blinding bright when we are heading out of the driveway. This one is on all the time, not motion-activated.

Todd, that is an awesome western sky shot!

todd vainisi wrote:

Not as good as out west, but pretty nice.

Jim, I enjoy your photography quite a bit. But not as good as out west is a complete understatement. The sky is supposed to look more like this:

Todd

I was trying to soften the blow, people tend to think I am a bit negative at times.

Thanks for posting a better image of the nighttime sky. Is it any wonder we no longer look up at the stars and dream of tomorrow? Taken from us.

cmager wrote:If the city is installing and converting to LED street lights, that is an important moment to specify the color temperature and dispersion of lights that best follow Dark Skies guidelines.

I am thinking they haven't read them, or care about mundane things like saving energy or light pollution...

Arthur Avenue Beatification Program(?)

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... hur#p89317





Note in these two photos how much light is going up and out where it is not needed. Effective reflectors, and proper lighting would keep the street safe, lit, and energy efficient. Saving money, retaining property values, and cutting waste.

Look how bad the fence and yard looks. Kind of disappear with the night sky.



.

cmager wrote:If the city is installing and converting to LED street lights, that is an important moment to specify the color temperature and dispersion of lights that best follow Dark Skies guidelines.

Wow those Arthur Ave lights are about as anti-dark-skies as one could possibly get. Dark Skies is not a new initiative and I would think it is well understood by those responsible for such things.

Someone should get Dark Skies on the agenda of the Public Works Director and the City Council. Maybe that would give them something to do instead of screwing up the city economy.

In 1977, the textbook in my freshman college class "Urban Social Policy" attributed Lakewood's then high tech "mercury vapor streetlights" one every street as one of several factors that made Lakewood the "Safest City In America" over 50K people. The fact that we are essentially a grid also helped the fast police department response time.