General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat cities would look like without light pollution
Have you ever wondered what the night sky might look like with all the city and street lights turned off? Thierry Cohen from Paris did, and through his imagination and exploration, created a digital project called Darkened Cities.
http://thierrycohen.com/pages/work/starlights.html#
more
http://www.visualnews.com/2012/12/26/darkened-cities/
FirstLight
(13,352 posts)I love it!
Deep13
(39,154 posts)full cut off lighting where necessary, and no wasteful, unnecessary omnidirectional lighting.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)I imagine city folks would have a hard time with a rural area where it gets really dark at night. Even here in a small town I find the country in winter rather scary. I will say that it makes the auroras better.
TheMadMonk
(6,187 posts)The best dark sky sites in the world couldn't produce a view that speccy without a couple of thousand dollars worth of telescope and electronic sensors. (Or a film camera and several hours of exposures.)
NutmegYankee
(16,177 posts)I was at Bryce Canyon, UT (which has a spectacular dark sky) during a new moon and the milky was no where near that bright. You could see it, but it didn't glow like that.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Still, wicked cool looking on the PC.
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)Not even Bryce Canyon, UT.
That said, he's right. It would not be that bright even if 100% of light pollution was eliminated.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)..that's been allowed to proliferate.
When I was a boy..here in the Tampa Bay area, I could see stars to the 6th magnitude.
Now, I'm lucky to see a 4th, and most nights I have to strain to see a 3rd mag.
I could accept normal growth but it seems like people do everything to light up 40% of their houses and the other 60% goes into the night sky. Not only is it non-caring but also wasteful.
Call me Johnny-pissed-off
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)DollarBillHines
(1,922 posts)The sky was surreal.
You could spot the locals, they were walking around like tourists - looking up.
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)I wasn't here at the time. I wonder if anyone thought to take pictures with a long exposure?
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)on our way to a concert. You felt like they were right on top of you.
enough
(13,235 posts)I've observed in my life is the lack of darkness at night.
These photos seem beautiful to me, but very sad.
Liberalagogo
(1,770 posts)back in 1989, I went to Australia, and was out at Ayers Rock (Uluru) at night...and the sky was unbelievable. I'm a city boy, so it completely floored me how much you could see in the desert night sky. I saw satellites moving overhead with the naked eye. Whenever I'm in the country (usually central Texas) and it's clear, I always try to go outside and stargaze. It's not anywhere near as good as the Aussie desert, but it's refreshing.
PS. I was living in San Francisco for a bit and we had a city blackout, and the sky, while star-filled, looked nothing like the 3rd pic.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)that's why getting away from light sources and moisture sources (going to the desert) improves the view of the sky.
also, higher altitude means you're looking through less atmosphere.
so go somewhere in the high desert away from cities and you will be amazed --the hinterlands of Utah and Nevada even eastern Oregon have amazing night skies.
Incitatus
(5,317 posts)nights. The sky was amazing compared to where I live in Florida, but it did not look as great as in those pictures.
Heather MC
(8,084 posts)I see these pictures and think gee I wonder how many houses are getting broken into right now, and how many people are getting mugged or worse. Not that people don't do those things with the lights on. but eeek very scary with the lights out
TalkingDog
(9,001 posts)If you drove by a totally dark house and saw a guy with a flash light on the outside trying to get in (because only the very skilled can pick a lock without seeing what they are doing) would you figure that the house was being broken into or.....what?
Muggings same thing. Studies suggest muggers pick victims based on body language. Can't see body language if everybody is in the dark.
Street lights and "safety" lights allow burglars and muggers an easy way to spot targets. We have never had safety lights in our yard. They are worse than pointless.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)and maybe tripping on something and falling, or a car hitting someone because no lights at night are there to illuminate the person until the last second when the person walking is in view of the car lights. "Light Pollution" in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago actually helps to illuminate streets at night that are not lit by street lights.
the city would be lit up by the stars and the moon you would be able to see.
and a well placed towel and Hammer would do the job of breaking a window and no 1 would hear it. So no need for fan y lock picking tools
or they just find a window that is not locked.
pardon me for living in a world where crime is committed in the dark
OneTenthofOnePercent
(6,268 posts)It really is breath taking. During that Gemini meteor shower a week or so ago, you could see little & big ,eteors every couple of seconds.
Vox Moi
(546 posts)LED lighting is an energy and cost-saving alternative right now.
Light pollution conventional light sources blaze forth in all directions while the directed illumination with LEDs is superb.
The technology is firmly in place and the economy of the switch well documented.
I'm not shilling for LEDs, but I spent many years living in a city and thinking how beautiful it would look if we put light only where we needed it.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)electricity was off.
vanlassie
(5,637 posts)in the South Pacific... I had never seen the Southern Cross- WOW.
tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)i enjoyed going outside at night and seeing stars for a change
LWolf
(46,179 posts)Living rurally, my night sky is breathtaking. It makes driving at night a little different; around here, things close up and people go home. There are some street lights in town, but as soon as you get to the edge, no more street lights, at all. Even on the highway.
The small city to the south creates some light pollution, but nothing in comparison to large cities.
It's so dark that, with no moon, if the porch light is off I need a flashlight to find my way from the car to the front door.
Once, about 8 years ago, my son wandered outside, forgot the flashlight, and ran into a cow. Literally. It breached the fence from it's pasture next door. Black angus in the dark.
TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)Most of my life was spent in Wyoming. I got to see that a lot.
postulater
(5,075 posts)with a full moon bright enough to read by.
I'll never forget it.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)I've driven around the country several times and were in very rural in the middle of nowhere areas between cities many times (especially in the west) and...
The skies are not nearly that bright at night. Those pictures are taken only with cameras set to take long exposures (30 seconds or more) that exxagerate the brightness. Many photos taken at night outside exxagerate the brightness (because the photographer cares more about making a beautiful photo than being accurate.)
Besides, cities need light partly as a crime deterrent. If everywhere would be dark it would be easier for criminals at night to do their stuff. BTW, even small cities I've been to have significant light pollution that glows from at least 10 miles away.
Ibisa
(9 posts)I am in the lighting industry. It kinda makes me sick when I fly into Chicago and see the glowing sky and think of both all of the waste as well as the harm to the visual environment.
We won't eliminate light spill and reflections completely, but all of the 'wall packs' and such just blast light everywhere with no real direction.
The only thing we need to watch for is that some cities and designers are retrofitting with LED fixtures without considering the previous light spill onto the sidewalks, from a safety standpoint. If they aren't careful, they save lots of energy (while spending high $ upfront unfortunately), but also at the expense of pedestrian safety. There are plenty of ways to address it, but people need to be diligent.
savebigbird
(417 posts)Whenever I bring up the topic of light pollution with people I know, they look at me like I'm strange. I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking about it.
bluedigger
(17,077 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Nikia
(11,411 posts)I was so glad that there are city street lights for when I went running in the mornings before work when I worked during the day.
Now that I work until 2 am in a town 30 miles away in a non metro area, I have been so relived when I have had the "city" lights when driving through fog or snow.
TheManInTheMac
(985 posts)I doubt they like it very much.