Aramcheck

France also recently introduced legislation to control light pollution:-  https://www.darksky.org/france-light-pollution-law-2018/

I think there is more prospect of getting the light pollution problem noticed here in the UK by concentrating on other aspects, other than astronomy, such as the ongoing catastrophic loss of insects & impacts of artificial lighting on wildlife... In Austria's 77-page guidance on Outdoor lighting, for instance, eleven pages are dedicated to the effects on wildlife:- https://www.land-oberoesterreich.gv.at/files/publikationen/us_Leitfaden_Guidelines_Outdoor_lighting_english.pdf

There have been a number of papers published in scientific journals. The Jan 2018 edition of Nature magazine included " The dark side of light: how artificial lighting is harming the natural world" which is a good introduction (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00665-7) and the Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) database has over 600+ related research papers (http://alandb.darksky.org/). Some of the research has gotten picked up by the press - eg York & Newcastle Uni's work on moths: "The dark side of street lighting: impacts on moths and evidence for the disruption of nocturnal pollen transport" (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.13371), which has been reported on in several newspapers eg: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/01/21/street-lamps-should-turned-night-allow-moths-pollinate-say-scientists/; (https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/street-lights-insects-light-pollution-night-moths-pollination-ecosystems-plants-a8735411.html and https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/02/street-lights-lure-moths-away-from-gardens-say-scientists.

More recently the Universities of Colorado / Melbourne published a literary review " Light Pollution Is a Driver of Insect Declines" (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3378835) which is also worth reading.

In the UK, the government's 25 year plan for the environment only manages one line saying that " 'light and noise pollution must be managed effectively " and there seems to have been little action taken since 2003's Royal Commission  on Environmental Pollution - Artifical Light In The Environment report (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/artificial-light-in-the-environment).

This DW Documentary "The Insect Apocalypse" is also worth watching (https://youtu.be/GzhHHVFp32U) as is their "Disappearing Darkness" film (https://youtu.be/9NyQgHGF1NM).

Apologies for the ramble!

Ivor

Hi Jonjoe,

I'd suggest hooking up with the Leeds Astronomical Society. They hold public observation sessions at the New Inn in Eccup, where you can see different scopes up close. They also have regular meetings at the Quakers Meeting House, near The Eldon pub / Leeds Uni and there's plenty of friendly/knowledgeable folk there. (Next is on the 11th Sept) - see http://www.astronomyleeds.org.uk/index.php for more info.

My wife and I started observing last year, with a 130mm Newt. on EQ2. Light pollution here is pretty bad as we're close to the airport and I found it a pretty steep learning curve. We've just upgraded to a 200mm/EQ6... which on our first viewing enabled us to see much fainter objects like M57 & M13, both of which had  previously eluded us under the similar conditions (probably from the difficulty of locating objects via star-hopping rather than light pollution?).

Over the last year, I've found that just sitting out with binoculars and a copy of Sky & Telescope's "Pocket Sky Atlas" was an easier method of learning where things are in the sky.

Cheers
Ivor