Gorgeous Time Lapse Video Reveal a Nighttime Sky Free From Light Pollution. Also Stunning Moonrise

[progree]

Look up at the nighttime sky and what do you see? If you're like most, the answer is probably not "stars," but the orange wash of streetlights reflected in the sky above.

Light pollution from ambient nighttime lighting is an unrelenting drain on energy reserves worldwide, and a problem that's growing at a rate of four percent annually. The consistent glare of illumination can adversely affect everything around it, including ecosystems and wildlife.

But at the Mount John Observatory in New Zealand, star-gazers can enjoy a crystal-clear view from Earth of the solar system above, due in part to the nearby township of Lake Tekapo, which increasingly powers down its ambient lights at night.

The observatory is part of a territory that was officially named an International Dark Sky Reserve in 2012, allowing guests to enjoy soaring and detailed views of the universe that we often forget our planet is a part of.

A bit more: http://news.yahoo.com/gorgeous-photos-show-nighttime-sky-free-light-pollution-194724490.html

(33 seconds)

===============================================================
Related: Moonrise over New Zealand - presented in real-time
This is not a time lapse. This moonrise, Wellington, New Zealand was recorded and shown in real time is positively spellbinding. The mood music adds a lot to it.

Courtesy of: http://www.democraticunderground.com/122815019 (which got 120 rec's)
3 minutes 36 seconds

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Ok, the spotters add a hilarious 'FIRE ZE LAZORS!' element to this.

[oldandhappy]

2. Beautiful. Thank you. Enjoyed both.

Always good to know there are dark places left where we can see these! I go to a local planetarium several times a year to be reminded of the sky the way it is.

[Plucketeer]

3. We moved to the country some years ago.

Recently, we've gotten neighbors who decided streelight security outweighs the peace and beauty of the night. They put up a huge floodlight that illuminates our back yard whether we want it or not.

[bvar22]

4. My Wife & I moved to The Woods too.

We can once again see the STARS at night like I remember from my youth.

[Plucketeer]

7. Yup

having grown up in rural Michigan, the star-filled sky was an inspiration for me to consider my place in the cosmos.

[progree]

5. Reminds me of PBS's POV - The City Dark, which can be watched (streamed) until Oct 9.

The link is at: http://www.pbs.org/pov/citydark/
and on the right side near top of the page is "Watch The Full Film Online"

Here are some notes I made on it at the time --

how city light pollution is affecting us. E.g. turtle hatchlings are disoriented by city lights and head for the light rather than the ocean. Some birds migrate at night, and use star maps in their heads to navigate; city lights disorient them. And birds attracted to lights fly into buildings. As for humans, breast cancer is 1.5X to 2X higher among shift workers. In rat studies, have found that tumors grow less or shrink more with high melatonin blood than low melatonin blood. Darkness increases the melatonin levels in the blood substantially (sigh).

As for what you are talking about -- security lighting -- I remember the film near the end discusses Bar Harbor, Maine passed an ordinance to allow only certain kinds of outdoor night lights -- ones that illuminated in a general downward direction -- not wastefully upward. Anyway, it made a very big difference to night sky viewing.

Google: bar harbor maine lighting ordinance

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Unanticipated bonus:

When I saw the moon all the way over on the right hand side of the frame, I thought, "Ha! He's going to have to move his camera." Then the moon moved from south to north as it rose, as it always does in a moonrise viewed south of the equator.

[progree]

8. Yup. I'm wondering if the moon is upside down too, when viewed from the Southern Hemisphere

Certainly to take the extreme case, comparing a person standing at the north pole compared to standing at the south pole -- they are both upside down from the other person's perspective. And looking at a distant object, the moon, what is at the "top" of one's field of vision will be at the "bottom" of the other's field of vision. I was trying to see if I could see the familiar rabbit churning butter.

The latitude of Wellington, New Zealand, where the moonrise was video'd, is 41.8 deg S. Compare that to someone like me in Minneapolis at 45 deg N. and we're standing with an angle between us of nearly 90 degrees (right angle). And therefore...

While I was at it, FWIW, I found that the latitude of the Mount John University observatory in New Zealand (where the first video was filmed) is 44.0 deg S.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. I live in Alexandria, Virginia.

When Vega transits (reaches its highest point in the sky) tonight, at about 8:15 p.m. or so, it will be straight up at my latitude. I get a big kick out of lying down at the bottom of a two-story chimney, looking up the chimney, and seeing it.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance

[progree]

10. Magnificent Milky Way Glows Over Machu Picchu (Photo) - another example of when there are no lights

and also when are high up in altitude.

Magnificent Milky Way Glows Over Machu Picchu (Photo)
by Nina Sen | July 19, 2013 03:00pm ET



The glowing arc of the Milky Way points to the great ruins of the Incan Empire, Machu Picchu, in this vivid night sky image.

Thomas O'Brien took this photo in early July 2013 from the summit of Putucusi Mountain, which is located across the Urubamba River Valley from the historic sanctuary of Machu Picchu, Peru. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is the dark, saddle-shaped area between mountains on the right side of the image where the arc of the Milky Way intersects with the horizon.

The Milky Way, our own galaxy containing the solar system, is a barred spiral galaxy with roughly 400 billion stars. The stars, along with gas and dust, appear like a band of light in the sky from Earth. The galaxy stretches between 100,000 to 120,000 light-years in diameter.

- See more at: http://www.space.com/21961-milky-way-machu-picchu-photo.html#sthash.CcFRxGpx.dpuf

(thanks to Judi Lynn http://www.democraticunderground.com/122820867 )