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Post by Dragon Man on Aug 17, 2016 11:11:28 GMT
I thought it would be interesting to see how much light pollution our members have to put up with. Simply show your location on a Light Pollution map. Here: www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=2&lat=4781860&lon=-3570379&layers=B0TFFFFEnter your suburb or town name into the search box at top left of the map. A Red pin should appear at your location. Click on the buttons on the right hand side of the map showing 'Bing Map (road)', and 'Light Pollution 2016 (VIIRS)'. Then copy/paste the page Here's mine. I am in a Black zone:
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Post by howie1 on Aug 17, 2016 13:31:49 GMT
Mine ...
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Aug 17, 2016 14:26:26 GMT
Also known as a bragging rights thread I'm not sure what scale you used Ken, but here's mine.
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Post by Dragon Man on Aug 17, 2016 15:53:02 GMT
Nah, not bragging rights Rick LOL! More of an accurate graphic explanation find out how much effort some have to put into their workflow to get results. The scale I used is whatever it opened at when I used the Search box.
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robrj
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home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Aug 17, 2016 17:09:18 GMT
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Aug 17, 2016 18:56:49 GMT
Ken, do you think this is the most accurate of all of the Dark/Light Pollution maps?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2016 21:02:51 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2016 23:12:45 GMT
I'm firmly in an orange zone according to DarkSkyFinder.com. My average Sky Quality Meter is 18.36 MPSAS or 4.26 NELM. My best ever reading is 19.05 MPSAS or 4.81 NELM. Now using the Light Pollution map that Ken references the sky quality looks different. I'm not sure which one I believe is more accurate.
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Post by ChrisV on Aug 18, 2016 8:37:43 GMT
Mine says a yellow area. But interesting as there's a big park up the road which is blue/green !!
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Post by Dragon Man on Aug 18, 2016 9:21:56 GMT
Ken, do you think this is the most accurate of all of the Dark/Light Pollution maps? I have no idea Rick. It's the only one I could find that zooms into every part of Earth. All the others I found are Light Pollution maps showing whole countries, not individual cities. If there is a better light pollution map out there that we can show our exact location we can use that instead of this one, and I can delete this thread and we can make another one. But I would like to see a graphic representation of what light pollution people have to struggle with to get results, as it tells us a lot about the equipment and software settings being used too.
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Aug 18, 2016 13:08:48 GMT
Ken, DarkSiteFinder.com has you at 3 notches above totally black. Like Tim, I don't know what is more accurate.
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Aug 18, 2016 13:09:47 GMT
I'm firmly in an orange zone according to DarkSkyFinder.com. My average Sky Quality Meter is 18.36 MPSAS or 4.26 NELM. My best ever reading is 19.05 MPSAS or 4.81 NELM. Tim, what Sky Quality Meter do you use? I've never looked at them before.
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Post by Dragon Man on Aug 18, 2016 14:03:54 GMT
Ken, DarkSiteFinder.com has you at 3 notches above totally black. Like Tim, I don't know what is more accurate. I just looked at DarkSiteFinder.com and I remember that site, and it is waayyyy off target with light pollution. It shows this whole region as in the blue, and it connects Ballarat with Melbourne as one large blob of light! Rubbish That is the website I queried in an email to the publishers, and they replied and said that they can't attest to its accuracy. I made a point of showing them several areas that show patches of light where there is no light. As an example, look to the lower left from Snake Valley (in the attached pic below) you will see a patch of Blue and Bright Blue at a town called Pittong. Pittong is about 10 minutes drive from here and has no street lights, no houses, no anything. The whole area is cattle grazing land and an abandoned open cut Clay mine. Most land around this part of the state is grazing land. The cows and sheep must have headlights on so they can eat at night LOL!!!! The population of Pittong is Zero: www.populationlist.com/Pittong/State_of_Victoria/Australia/71210/city-populationWhen I pointed this out to them they suggested that maybe the Cartography service they use for their maps may have added the light dome there because there is a Chemical plant that must have lights. I told them it is an abandoned Clay mine and processing Plant (I used to work there) and has no lights at all, just ghosts LOL, but they said that there's nothing they can do to correct the maps I certainly don't trust that sites accuracy.
When I pointed out the inaccuracy of that site in CN many others posted that they also found major errors in their own areas. But it's nice to see that our Club site shows up
Here's the map showing the amazing non-existent light in Pittong
Interestingly, the Bing map I used above in my first post shows Pittong as even brighter!!!!! Pretty good for cow paddocks LOL! Here it is:
WEIRD! But to get down to the technical level, the SQM (Sky Quality Meter) reading for here (Snake Valley Club site) is 21.65 using a Unihedron SQM-L Meter.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2016 14:22:03 GMT
After studying the 2 dark sky maps for my area, they are pretty similar but I believe the light pollution map is probably a more accurate representation of the light dome here. I can't speak about its accuracy in other areas. I think I'll update my blog to include the link to their site instead of Darksitefinder.com. Sky Quality Meter is a nifty device for measuring sky brightness. They have a very informative website: unihedron.com/projects/darksky/I have this meter unihedron.com/projects/sqm-l/I have a spreadsheet where on most clear nights between 10 pm & midnight I record a sky reading, temperature, moon position & % illumination. Just tracking the quality of my skies.
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robrj
Member
Posts: 248
home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Aug 18, 2016 17:24:51 GMT
I have the same meter. My best recording at home was 19.4, which lines up with the map Ken posted. My best ever was 21.6 at Bryce Canyon National Park.
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