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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Stellarium's Light Pollution Feature


I just recently upgraded to the new Stellarium. In the new version 0.10.2, many new features were added. The one I found most interesting was the light pollution simulation. Kind of shocking to see the differences immediately between perfect dark sky and nearly no stars. Makes me thankful for the (kind of) dark skies I do have.


Here, you can see the option in the Sky Views options screen.


This is the view simulated with no light pollution. This is what perfect dark skies would look like.


This is moderate light pollution. My skies are somewhere between this LP level and the dark sky above.


This shows heavy light pollution. I've been in places with more LP than this, and I couldn't see any stars!

In the near future, I'll be putting together a complete list of the new features of Stellarium. But tonight I'll be busy out at the 'scope!

Clear skies!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Sir,

I stay in a place where I can just barely see the moon on clear nights, everything else is obscured by LP...

You are really lucky...

Clear skies...

Sean Welton said...

Well, I don't know how lucky I could consider myself as far as LP goes, I just moved down to Columbus, Ohio for graduate school, and the LP here is the worst I've ever seen...

September 29, 2009 12:35 PM

Anonymous said...

Light Pollution is bad for many people but I have a good tip for seeing better through this unnecessary pollution = purchase a night sight, even if it is of low grade, it can cut straight through the LP even in the town if you can find a spot where it is dark or shaded from direct street light.
They make the stars sharper and star showers leave trails that you do not get to see with the eye.
I live in a part of Scotland where the LP is very low but it does rain a lot ... maybe I should upgrade from IR to X-ray…….
It is not until you get about 20 - 30 miles out into the hills that the sky becomes its natural colour again but even there the IR night sight makes a massive difference in the sharpness of the night skies wonders.

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