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On a clear night in 1994, an earthquake rumbled beneath Los Angeles and caused a city-wide power outage just before dawn. Startled awake, some residents who had stumbled outside called various emergency centers and a local observatory to report a mysterious cloud overhead. That weird object turned out to be the band of the Milky Way, our home galaxy, which had long been obscured from view by the city’s lights. Arguably, the light bulb is the most transformative invention humans have introduced to this planet. By flicking a switch or pushing a button, we can push back the veil that...

Explanation: How far are you from a naturally dark night sky? In increasing steps, this world map (medium | large) shows the effect of artificial night sky brightness on the visual appearance of the night sky. The brightness was modeled using high resolution satellite data and fit to thousands of night sky brightness measurements in recent work. Color-coded levels are compared to the natural sky brightness level for your location. For example, artificial sky brightness levels in yellow alter the natural appearance of the night sky. In red they hide the Milky Way in an artificial luminous fog. The results...

Explanation: The Aurora Borealis or northern lights are familiar visitors to night skies above the village of Reine in the Lofoten Islands, Norway, planet Earth. In this scene, captured from a mountaintop camp site, the auroral curtains do seem to create an eerie tension with the coastal lights though. A modern perspective on the world at night, the stunning image was chosen as the over all winner in The World at Night's 2016 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest. Selections were made from over 900 entries highlighting the beauty of the night sky and its battle with light pollution.

For thousands of years, man has sought to ward off the dark by using light to illuminate the night. Now, EPA chief Gina McCarthy and celebrity astronomer Neil DeGrasse Tyson want to take us back a few thousand years by giving the agency the ability to deal with "light pollution." The only way to deal with light pollution is to, well, turn off the lights. This will be a boon to astronomers like Tyson who will be able to see the stars and planets a lot better. But for the rest of us, not so good. Crime will rise, accidents...

Stargazers now have their Graceland. The Channel Island of Sark, located 80 miles south of England, has been designated as the world's first dark-sky island. Dark-sky communities are places with very little to no light pollution. As a result, the stars are far easier to see and more fun to look at. According to a buzzy article from SPACE.com, Sark is just 4.5 square miles and has "no public street lighting, no paved roads, and no cars." In other words, save for the occasional flashlight or matchstick, there aren't a lot of things to interfere with the nighttime display, which...

About a dozen senior campaign staffers for Rudy Giuliani are foregoing their January paychecks, aides said Friday, a sign of possible money trouble for the Republican presidential candidate. "We have enough money, but we could always use more money,'' contended Mike DuHaime, Giuliani's campaign manager and one of those who now is working for free. "We want to make sure we have enough to win.'' At the end of December, he said the campaign had $11.5 million cash on hand, $7 million of which can be used for the primary. He disputed the notion of a cash-strapped campaign, and said...

Link only - The story...

They wink at us every day from computer screens and stereos. But the humble LED is heading for a brighter future. New generation Light Emitting Diodes will purify water, make lights that mimic the colour of sunshine, and keep private data immune from hackers. Dr Rachel Oliver, an LED researcher from the University of Cambridge, thinks that they could easily succeed tungsten bulbs as the main way to light our homes. "LEDs have enormous benefits over standard light bulbs because they're a great deal more efficient, come in a range of different colours and have a very long lifetime. They...

If U.S. lawmakers have their way, the lights may soon go out on Thomas Edison's greatest invention -- the incandescent light bulb. The 19th-century inventor brought illumination to the world's fingertips, but according to Congress, his invention isn't efficient enough for an age anxious about energy supplies. "Only 10% of the power used by today's incandescent bulbs is emitted as light, while the other 90% is released as heat," Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said when she introduced her legislation to ban standard light bulbs. To eliminate this waste, Harman has proposed legislation that would effectively eliminate incandescent light bulbs from...

Pricey Harrison, a state legislator from Greensboro has proposed a law that we ban entirely the incandescent light bulb. The proposed bill is HR 838. Instapundit has some stuff on this, as well.

Light Pollution At the beginning of the 21st century, humanity is losing a valuable and beautiful part of its heritage. For the first time in history, poorly designed and badly aimed lighting is denying vast numbers of humanity a view of the night sky. Urban sky glow now pollutes nearly all of Britain's night skies. As amateur astronomers we have a responsibility to guard our night time environment against light pollution. What is light pollution?  Light pollution is the popular name for sky glow - a brightening of the night sky caused by the scattering of artificial light by aerosol...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Mockingbirds sing all night long. Mountain lions take wide detours around the wildlife crossings they're supposed to be using. And two species of nocturnal snake slither quietly toward oblivion in the scrub lands of Orange County, Calif. The reason? The nights have grown far too bright. That's the message delivered powerfully in a new book, "Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting" - maybe not in Oprah's book club, but for many scientists trying to preserve native wildlife, a must-have. A product of four years' labor, the book pulls together the latest scientific findings on effects of...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Antwerp will dim the bright new lights along the Belgian port city's waterfront after prostitutes complained they were putting off potential clients. "We had some remarks from the prostitutes that there was too much light, both for them and the clients," city council spokesman Jorn Verbeeck said. "We are investigating the possibility of lowering the light there." Prostitutes complained to city and police officials that the lights installed in December did not give them enough privacy and hurt business, he said.

For the original image, go here...it's awesome.

(CNSNews.com) - The local planning commission in a Washington, D.C. suburb is now drafting an ordinance that would reduce outdoor nighttime lighting, a move that one critic says would force residents of the area to "stop what we do during the holiday season." The effort to regulate lighting is part of an agenda driven by "a radical, left-wing, no-growth, kooky, '70s-hold-over crowd," said Loudoun County, Va., Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio, who was on the losing end of a recent vote taken by the board of supervisors. The board voted 5-4 to assign the county planning commission the job of devising a...

Let us begin with the understanding that there is no such thing as "light pollution", yet this idiotic notion is generating legislation to "save the night skies" from it. It is one more example of the way environmentalists will use any bizarre excuse to secure control over our lives and our property rights. The fact that publicly elected officials would give serious consideration to such nonsense reflects the degree to which environmentalism has destroyed common sense. Where’s the connection, you ask? Consider being told it is against the law for you to put up Christmas lights as decoration or that...

Let us begin with the understanding that there is no such thing as "light pollution," yet this idiotic notion is generating legislation to "save the night skies" from it. It is one more example of the way environmentalists will use any bizarre excuse to secure control over our lives and our property rights. The fact that publicly elected officials would give serious consideration to such nonsense reflects the degree to which environmentalism has destroyed common sense. Where's the connection, you ask? Consider being told it is against the law for you to put up Christmas lights as decoration or...