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light pollution map


faulksy

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Depends what the catagorisation is based on, usually it is population. Say this as a couple of villages I know of are on the map with reasonable light pollution indicated. The catch is they are maybe odd in having no streetlights, so the reality is they are dark, very dark. Drive through them and you do need headlights on full beam.

The LP maps tend to show West of the M11 at Cambridge as poor, but honestly the lights cease before the M11 west of Cambridge so the actual situation is they are not so bad. Atdditionally Cambridge appears to have opted for some less intense LED lights, so a bit darker again.

My "nearest" site to observe from would seemingly indicate I was wasting my time at all, but it works well. Try not far from an elevated motorway junction that is well illuminated. As said seems crazy but actually pretty good.

Use the map as an indication, but not as an absolute.

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Interesting Mike and as said useful as a general planner, I value my Unihedron Sky Quality Meter for accurate variations between locations. Dark sky trips are in themselves a bit of a compromise, unless - as I know you do- you plan on camping / stopping over night and or doing a complete over-nighter session, the journey home, when most likely you are running almost on empty has to be factored in, 45 - 55 minutes each way usually does it for me, even though extending the journey by 20 minutes would take me to places that are yet darker. Of course stopping over is something I should get into the habit of doing, no reason really not to wild camp, makes a lot of sense.

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3 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Interesting Mike and as said useful as a general planner, I value my Unihedron Sky Quality Meter for accurate variations between locations. Dark sky trips are in themselves a bit of a compromise, unless - as I know you do- you plan on camping / stopping over night and or doing a complete over-nighter session, the journey home, when most likely you are running almost on empty has to be factored in, 45 - 55 minutes each way usually does it for me, even though extending the journey by 20 minutes would take me to places that are yet darker. Of course stopping over is something I should get into the habit of doing, no reason really not to wild camp, makes a lot of sense.

nice in groups iain, like i have said, your more than welcome to come with us :icon_biggrin:

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33 minutes ago, ronin said:

Depends what the catagorisation is based on, usually it is population. Say this as a couple of villages I know of are on the map with reasonable light pollution indicated. The catch is they are maybe odd in having no streetlights, so the reality is they are dark, very dark. Drive through them and you do need headlights on full beam.

The LP maps tend to show West of the M11 at Cambridge as poor, but honestly the lights cease before the M11 west of Cambridge so the actual situation is they are not so bad. Atdditionally Cambridge appears to have opted for some less intense LED lights, so a bit darker again.

My "nearest" site to observe from would seemingly indicate I was wasting my time at all, but it works well. Try not far from an elevated motorway junction that is well illuminated. As said seems crazy but actually pretty good.

Use the map as an indication, but not as an absolute.

According to the layer designation, it’s VIIRS data... s’basically satellite IR camera overlaid on map, rather than measured light pollution as seen from the ground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_Infrared_Imaging_Radiometer_Suite

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That is nice Mike. I used an older version, but I like the link you've provided.

And although where I live is not shown as a dark area at all, I manage with filtering like a Badder Moon and Sky Glow, and using an HA7nm for nebula imaging. I do have some good dark sites nearby though.

This map puts me in a 'Pink' Zone. LOL! :shocked:

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An advantage of the Light Pollution Map is the possibility to enter your own SQM/SQM-L data and look for other peoples SQM readings; so you get additional information about the light pollution as seen from the ground.

Stephan

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The trouble is what are the values without some link to what effect they have.  On that map my garden gets Radiance 1-3 and SQL 21.2-20.9 However, whether that is particularly good or particularly bad for what I might see through my telescope in my own location I haven't got a clue about. 

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  • 4 months later...

Yes in the lightpollutionmap.info you can see the sources of lights but not the effect of them all around. 

To see the sources and their effects all around I combined the lightpollutionmap.info and The New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness under Google Earth

Maps are on my website : www.astrodark.fr

 

591dfde2d826b_South-WestEnglandlightpollution.thumb.jpg.5ae027968753dc43c692a6ab89802cf3.jpg591dfe97d0ae0_CornouailleNewAtlas.thumb.jpg.b4beaec6bfe695cb4691077a6d217226.jpgCornouaillle.thumb.png.08a2e43ec4c9b0b3451c82539fc7e62e.png

The first image is the lighpollutionmap.info, the second is of The New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness and the last is the combined image I made under Google Earth.

You can open this accurate maps under Google Earth : 

PL Royaume-Uni (2).kmz

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On 14/01/2017 at 16:46, faulksy said:

using it to plan my camping holiday for france this year. the west coast near the pirenees looks best lit ex mixe .so booking for that area, 10 days/nights

Don't forget to factor in the moons phase.......easy to miss in the excitement of booking a holiday!

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