Help Track the Effects of Light Pollution with GLOBE at Night

By Nancy Atkinson - April 11, 2012 10:26 PM UTC | Observing

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Going on right now is your last chance in 2012 to take just a few minutes to get involved in the

GLOBE at Night campaign

to measure the brightness of your night sky. GLOBE at Night is a citizen-science project to raise awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to make naked-eye observations of the night sky in your area.

Here's all the info you need in order to participate in GLOBE at Night:

Participating in GLOBE at Night requires only five easy steps:

1)

Find your

latitude and longitude

.

2)

Find

Orion

,

Leo

or

Crux

by going outside more than an hour after sunset (about 8-10pm local time).

3)

Match your nighttime sky to one of the provided

magnitude charts

.

4)

Report your observation

.

5)

Compare your observation

to thousands around the world.

You can also use

the new web application data submission process

. The GLOBE at Night website is easy to use, comprehensive and holds an abundance of background information. The database is usable for comparisons with a variety of other databases, like how light pollution affects the foraging habits of bats.

People in 115 countries have contributed over 75,000 measurements during the past six years, making GLOBE at Night the most successful light pollution awareness campaign to date. So join in and help the cause!

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com