Night sky is getting brighter by about 10% every year

[Bigzmey]

https://bigthink.com/the-present/night- ... pollution/

That aligns well with what I see at my observing sites. Not good news for astronomy.

[helicon]

I know my berkeley hills place, once bortle 6 became bortle 7 in the course of a couple of years....new streetlight plus a brightening sky...

[Bigzmey]

Same here. When we moved 3 years ago, our new home location was Bortle 6, now it is Bortle 7.

[helicon]

The sad thing was that I could see NGC 6207 in Hercules by M13 and NGC 3077 in my Dob by M81 and M82 easily back in the 2010's, then they became invisible...

[Bigzmey]

I hear you Michael. I was able to see Milky Way from Solana Beach. Those nights are long gone. Even my desert dark site is not that dark anymore. Used to be a solid Bortle 3. It was so dark you could not walk around without flashlight (red one ). Now it is passed Bortle 4 and on the way to Bortle 5. I don't even bother to bring flashlight anymore.

[JayTee]

Andrey, you should couch bad news like that surrounded by good news like pancakes are still yummy and fuzzy slippers are loved by your feet. Something like that.

[Thefatkitty]

I believe that Andrey; when I moved here 12 years ago it was Bortle 6; now it's 8. Honestly, it's one of the reasons I got into Solar. In August of this year I had 17 clear or mostly clear days and September yielded 20 days. Nights, I had two clear nights for those two months. I haven't given up on night time astronomy, it just doesn't come around as much. And the Sun in interesting in different wavelengths (though kinda pricey after white light).

No wonder EAA is starting to take off; it's going to be a requirement soon just to see anything!

All the best for clear skies

[Bigzmey]

Andrey, you should couch bad news like that surrounded by good news like pancakes are still yummy and fuzzy slippers are loved by your feet. Something like that.

For me the massage is don't skip observing to watch TV, TV is not going anywhere, dark sky is. Now I am even more motivated to squeeze as many galaxies out of Anza sky as I can.

[messier 111]

It's really sad to see that the sky lights up by something other than the moon, the planets or the stars.
When I was younger I could see the Milky Way easily.
I went from a sky 3 to 9 in just a few decades.

[Ylem]

I have a street light on my street that lights up several trees and the birds sing all night

I just put a notice into the power company seeing if they can convert it to a motion detection model like some others in the neighborhood.

[kt4hx]

A far too common problem for the majority of us. A few years ago, our backyard was a solid Bortle 5 and I could do galaxy hunting with my 12 inch. Now it is a solid Bortle 6 and galaxy hunting is far more challenging. They continue to build both homes and businesses out our way, so that slow light creep has finally caught up to me.

At our dark site, despite being the least populated county in the state, tucked away in a valley with multiple ridge lines between us and significant population centers, and no localized industry, things have degraded slightly. It was a solid Bortle 3 that would on occasion dip to a B2 level. I no longer see that occasional improvement to B2 levels. However, it remains on average a solid B3. I am thankful for that, and I anticipate at my age it will remain a viable environment for galaxy hunting for as long as I am able to ge there and move the scope out of the garage.

[helicon]

A far too common problem for the majority of us. A few years ago, our backyard was a solid Bortle 5 and I could do galaxy hunting with my 12 inch. Now it is a solid Bortle 6 and galaxy hunting is far more challenging. They continue to build both homes and businesses out our way, so that slow light creep has finally caught up to me.

At our dark site, despite being the least populated county in the state, tucked away in a valley with multiple ridge lines between us and significant population centers, and no localized industry, things have degraded slightly. It was a solid Bortle 3 that would on occasion dip to a B2 level. I no longer see that occasional improvement to B2 levels. However, it remains on average a solid B3. I am thankful for that, and I anticipate at my age it will remain a viable environment for galaxy hunting for as long as I am able to ge there and move the scope out of the garage.

Fortunately Alan you have a dark sky respite!!!

[XCalRocketMan]

Yep, me too. Started at Bortle 4-5 in 1982 and now is Bortle 6-7. I've moved almost exclusively to narrowband to compensate - although that means some DSOs (emission nebula for example) are either out of my capability to capture well or at least more difficult to do so.

[OzEclipse]

Andrey, you should couch bad news like that surrounded by good news like pancakes are still yummy and fuzzy slippers are loved by your feet. Something like that.

For me the massage is don't skip observing to watch TV, TV is not going anywhere, dark sky is. Now I am even more motivated to squeeze as many galaxies out of Anza sky as I can.

Agreed, I would not skip observing to watch TV but I would skip observing for a massage

In 1994, I moved from a rented property 2km from the city centre of Canberra, to buy a place 8km from the centre. Canberra's current city population is 400,000. I also had another observing location just past the urban fringe 15km from the city.
................................YEAR..............
Distance...........1994................2023
2km..............Bortle6...........Not assessed
8km..............Bortle 4............Bortle 6/7
15km............Bortle 2/3..........Bortle 5/6

The urban fringe site is still urban fringe but suburban development is now lapping at the door. In 1994 it was 5km away.
This is from the World LP survey, 2015. I would expect the sky from my old rental property 2km north of the city would be a Bortle 8 now.

.

Bortle 2 skies overhead and looking away from the city are still easily accessible 30 mins drive from the city.
These pictures are from the same location looking towards and away from Canberra from 40km from the city centre.

.


Three years ago(2020), I moved to my current dark sky property 160km from Canberra, the sky varied from Bortle 1 to Bortle 4 mainly driven by sky transparency variations. I don't think light pollution in my area is increasing because the two nearest towns, both 7000 population, are not sprawling out quickly. The local council has made it difficult for surrounding farmland to be subdivided into residential blocks - that's good news for astronomy. This will slow development from approaching my village. The village itself is not increasing in size. My neighbours sold to new people who immediately installed a lot of outdoor lighting. They have been very amicable about minimising the effect of their outdoor lighting on my property.

However there is more particulates in the air and the proportion of high transparency nights to lower transparency nights, at least around new moons, anecdotally seems to have dropped. It is not something I have actively tracked. Over the first couple of years, we had record rains during the La Niña. This has the effect of clearing the air and lowering the Bortle rating assessment. We are now moving into a drought (El Niño) and so there are more particulates in the air on more nights and less of those high transparency nights. I have not noted any increase in baseline light pollution over these three years, just the variation caused by transparency variations.

Another more scientific article on the progress of light pollution
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1 ... tQjgbkqiuk

Joe

[helicon]

Andrey, you should couch bad news like that surrounded by good news like pancakes are still yummy and fuzzy slippers are loved by your feet. Something like that.

For me the massage is don't skip observing to watch TV, TV is not going anywhere, dark sky is. Now I am even more motivated to squeeze as many galaxies out of Anza sky as I can.

Agreed, I would not skip observing to watch TV but I would skip observing for a massage

In 1994, I moved from a rented property 2km from the city centre of Canberra, to buy a place 8km from the centre. Canberra's current city population is 400,000. I also had another observing location just past the urban fringe 15km from the city.
................................YEAR..............
Distance...........1994................2023
2km..............Bortle6...........Not assessed
8km..............Bortle 4............Bortle 6/7
15km............Bortle 2/3..........Bortle 5/6

The urban fringe site is still urban fringe but suburban development is now lapping at the door. In 1994 it was 5km away.
This is from the World LP survey, 2015. I would expect the sky from my old rental property 2km north of the city would be a Bortle 8 now.

Canberra-LP.jpg.

Bortle 2 skies overhead and looking away from the city are still easily accessible 30 mins drive from the city.
These pictures are from the same location looking towards and away from Canberra from 40km from the city centre.
Murrumbidgee LP.jpgMurrumbidge-MADNESS-SINGLE-6400-50S-14MM-f28.jpgMurrumbidge-River-4341.jpg.


Three years ago(2020), I moved to my current dark sky property 160km from Canberra, the sky varied from Bortle 1 to Bortle 4 mainly driven by sky transparency variations. I don't think light pollution in my area is increasing because the two nearest towns, both 7000 population, are not sprawling out quickly. The local council has made it difficult for surrounding farmland to be subdivided into residential blocks - that's good news for astronomy. This will slow development from approaching my village. The village itself is not increasing in size. My neighbours sold to new people who immediately installed a lot of outdoor lighting. They have been very amicable about minimising the effect of their outdoor lighting on my property.

However there is more particulates in the air and the proportion of high transparency nights to lower transparency nights, at least around new moons, anecdotally seems to have dropped. It is not something I have actively tracked. Over the first couple of years, we had record rains during the La Niña. This has the effect of clearing the air and lowering the Bortle rating assessment. We are now moving into a drought (El Niño) and so there are more particulates in the air on more nights and less of those high transparency nights. I have not noted any increase in baseline light pollution over these three years, just the variation caused by transparency variations.

Another more scientific article on the progress of light pollution
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1 ... tQjgbkqiuk

Joe

Nice account of your light pollution Joe.

[Richard]

We live in RSA most of the time and where I live even when we have constant power cuts I cats see plaiedes any more , we are a co owner of a farm and when I go there its was amazing , I only go there once a year its very basic , but the sky at night is amazing wife hates it as its very basic made for game hunters , but even there its its much worse now

[Big_Eight]

I've really noticed it over the last few years here in Colorado. I am considering joining DarkSky International as well as trying to get the word out that there are better lighting alternatives out there that will help keep our skies dark. There are also many journals out now with evidence showing the health effects light pollution is having on humans as well as insects and animal populations.

[helicon]

Yes light pollution interferes with the circadian rhythm of animals, birds and insects. There is even some evidence that it also is unhealthy for human beings.

[Star Dad]

I'm a Lead Night Sky Ranger with The Last Green Valley (TLGV) in eastern Connecticut. We've been monitoring LP for 6 years now and we were steadily decreasing in dark skies until 2 years ago, when suddenly dark areas (Bortle 4) began to reemerge. We do a LOT of outreach to government and organizations and I've personally educated hundreds of people on light pollution problems concerning health of humans, animals, and plants. The most substantial reduction in LP, I think, was due to our state government requiring all new outdoor lights - including street lights - be fully shielded. The main reason TLGV exists is because we are the last dark skies area between Boston and Washington, DC along the coast. We are working hard to preserve it. I am VERY lucky that despite being only 1/4 mile from downtown Norwich (largest city in Eastern CT pop. 36,000) I have maintained Bortle 4.5 during the last 8 years. Downtown is Bortle 8. Education is the key to winning this battle.

[OzEclipse]

Yes light pollution interferes with the circadian rhythm of animals, birds and insects. There is even some evidence that it also is unhealthy for human beings.

Anecdotally I agree with this from my personal experience.

There’s no ambient artificial light visible in this area at night and no noise save the occasional bleating of sheep or lowing of cattle in adjacent grazing paddocks. Anecdotally, I sleep much better, without waking and I wake feeling refreshed even if I am up late observing and only sleep a few hours. Much better quality sleep than I ever had living in my city apartment.

I keep flashlights stashed in various places around the house so that I can find them by feel if we lose power because if we blackout…. It’s black. You can’t see anything.
Joe.