ONE DAY SEMINAR AT HINDU VIDYA PEETH, LALITPUR
NASO
organized one day seminar at HINDU VIDYA PEETH, Lalitpur on May 19,
2010. Research Student of Astrophysics, Vice President of Nepal
Astronomical Society (NASO) and coordinator of CALP-Nepal, Mr. Sudeep
Neupane delivered a talk on AMATEUR ASTRONOMY , SPACE SCIENCE and LIGHT
POLLUTION for school children from secondary level. Faculty and Staffs
of the school were also present in the Seminar. Advocate L B Thapa gave
words of thanks to NASO and Founder Principal of the School, Dr. C M
Yogi congratulated NASO team for organizing seminar at the school.
Glimpse of the seminar
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CALP-Nepal visiting far east districts JHAPA, TEHRATHUM, SUNSARI
from Aplil 19 to 27.
from Aplil 19 to 27.
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CELEBRATING GLOBAL ASTRONOMY MONTH
Nepal Astronomical Society organized an Educational Outreaching activity amongst curious students of Grade 6, 7 , 8 and 9 studying at RIA School . The event was held at the premises of the school located at Kapan, Kathmandu on 2nd April 2010.
During
the event, Mr. Riwaj Pokhrel , founder member of NASO ,and the
coordinator of GAM Nepal talked about Global Astronomy Month(GAM)and
reflected on the importance of celebrating GAM all over the world. Vice -
President of NASO ,and the coordinator of Campaign against light
pollution gave a brief information on 'Night Sky' and' Light Pollution' .
Mr. Suresh Bhattarai,secretary of NASO and Ambassador of Star Peace
Event guided students in using Stellarium, an astronomical software for
sky observation. Mr. Rijendra Thapa, founder member of Nepal
Astronomical Society ,and NpoC of SGAC Nepal gave a brief presentation
on Understanding Science .
What
is Light Pollution? What is beyond the universe? Can we travel to the
future? Does Black Hole eats Nebula? were few out of many interesting
questions asked by Young minds.The event was finally concluded on
handing over poster 'How Science Works' to the Principal of the School.
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What is light pollution?
o Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution,
is excessive or obtrusive artificial light. It obscures the stars in
the night sky for city dwellers, interferes with astronomical
observatories, and, like any other form of pollution, disrupts
ecosystems and has adverse health effects.
o Light
pollution can be divided into two main types: 1) annoying light that
intrudes on an otherwise natural or low-light setting and 2) excessive
light (generally indoors) that leads to discomfort and adverse health
effects. .png)
o Since
the early 1980s, a global dark-sky movement has emerged, with concerned
people campaigning to reduce the amount of light pollution.
Sources of light pollution
Light pollution is a side effect of industrial civilization. Its sources include building
exterior and interior lighting, advertising, commercial properties,
offices, factories, streetlights, and illuminated sporting venues.
It
is most severe in highly industrialized, densely populated areas of
North America, Europe, and Japan and in major cities in the Middle East
and North Africa like Cairo, but even relatively small amounts of light
can be noticed and create problems. Like other forms of pollution (such
as air, water, and noise pollution) light pollution causes damage to the
environment.
Types of light pollution
1. Sky glow
Skyglow
refers to the "glow" effect that can be seen over populated areas. It
is the combination of all light reflected from what it has illuminated
escaping up into the sky and from all of the badly directed light
in that area that also escapes into the sky, being scattered
(redirected) by the atmosphere back toward the ground.
Sky
glow is of particular irritation to astronomers, because it reduces
contrast in the night sky to the extent where it may even become
impossible to see any but the brightest stars.
2. Light Clutter
Light clutter
refers to excessive groupings of lights. Groupings of lights may
generate confusion, distract from obstacles (including those that they
may be intended to illuminate), and potentially cause accidents. Clutter
is particularly noticeable on roads where the street lights are badly
designed, or where brightly lit advertising surrounds the roadways.
Clutter
may also present a hazard in the aviation environment if aviation
safety lighting must compete for pilot attention with non-relevant
lighting.
3. Over illumination
Over-illumination is the excessive use of light.
Specifically within the United States, over-illumination is responsible for approximately two million barrels of oil per day in energy wasted. This is based upon U.S. consumption of equivalent of 50 million barrels per day (7,900,000 m³/d) of petroleum .
4. Glare
Glare can be categorized into different types
Disability glare describes
effects such as being blinded by oncoming car lights, or light
scattering in fog or in the eye, reducing contrast, as well as
reflections from print and other dark areas that render them bright,
with significant reduction in sight capabilities.
Discomfort glare does
not typically cause a dangerous situation in itself, though it is
annoying and irritating at best. It can potentially cause fatigue if
experienced over extended periods.
Glare
from bad lighting is a public-health hazard—especially the older you
become. Glare light scattering in the eye causes loss of contrast and
leads to unsafe driving conditions, much like the glare on a dirty
windshield from low-angle sunlight or the high beams from an oncoming
car. In essence bright and/or badly shielded lights around roads may
partially blind drivers or pedestrians and contribute to accidents.
5. Light trespass
Light trespass
occurs when unwanted light enters one's property, for instance, by
shining over a neighbor's fence. A common light trespass problem occurs
when a strong light enters the window of one's home from the outside,
causing problems such as sleep deprivation or the blocking of an evening
view.
A number of cities in the U.S.
have developed standards for outdoor lighting to protect the rights of
their citizens against light trespass. To assist them, the International
Dark-Sky Association has developed a set of model lighting ordinances
Consequences of light pollution
1. Energy waste
Lighting
is responsible for one-fourth of all energy consumption worldwide, and
case studies have shown that several forms of over-illumination
constitute energy wastage, including non-beneficial upward direction of
night-time lighting.
In Australia,
public lighting is the single largest source of local government's
greenhouse gas emissions, typically accounting for 30 to 50% of their
emissions. There are 1.94 million public lights—one for every 10
Australians—that annually cost A$210 million, use 1,035 GWh of
electricity and are responsible for 1.15 million tonnes of CO2
emissions. Current public lighting in Australia,
particularly for minor roads and streets, uses large amounts of energy
and financial resources, while often failing to provide high quality
lighting.
In 2007, Terna, the company responsible for managing electricity flow in Italy,
reported a saving of 645.2 million kWh in electricity consumption
during the daylight saving period from April to October. It attributes
this saving to the delayed need for artificial lighting during the
evenings
2. Effects on human health and psychology
Medical
research on the effects of excessive light on the human body suggests
that a variety of adverse health effects may be caused by light
pollution or excessive light exposure, and some lighting design
textbooks use human health as an explicit criterion for proper interior
lighting.
Health
effects of over-illumination or improper spectral composition of light
may include: increased headache incidence, worker fatigue, medically
defined stress, decrease in sexual function and increase in anxiety
3. Disruption of ecosystems
• Light
pollution poses a serious threat to wildlife, having negative impacts
on plant and animal physiology. Light pollution can confuse animal
navigation, alter competitive interactions, change predator-prey
relations, and cause physiological harm. The rhythm of life is
orchestrated by the natural diurnal patterns of light and dark, so
disruption to these patterns impacts the ecological dynamics.
• Light pollution kills billions of insects every night.
• Lit tall buildings disturb bird migration.
• Lit shores lure sea turtles inland to their death.
• Lightings of buildings also endangers bats.
• Inappropriate street lighting and other stronger light sources can kill the predaceous water beetles.
4. Effect on astronomy
Skyglow
reduces the contrast between stars and galaxies in the sky and the sky
itself, making it more difficult to detect fainter objects.
Light
trespass can impact observations when stray light enters the tube of
the telescope from off-axis, and is reflected from surfaces other than
the telescope's mirrors (if any) so that it eventually reaches the
eyepiece, causing a glow across the field of view since it has not been
focused.
Summery:
Light pollution causes many unfavorable activities:
o Light pollution is destroying natural heritage.
o Light pollution is destroying biodiversity.
o New power-saving lights (LED) pose an even greater threat to biodiversity.
o Night light is also dangerous to human health.
o Light
pollution can confuse animal navigation, alter competitive
interactions, change predator-prey relations, and cause physiological
harm.
o Migrating birds can be disoriented by lights on tall structures.
o Light pollution disturb astronomical activities.
o Light pollution causes energy waste.
o Increase of greenhouse gas emission.
Why should we preserve natural dark sky in Nepal ?
o To continue ecosystem.
o To save energy waste.
o To be safe from many adverse health effects which could attack if we do not preserve dark sky.
o To make Nepal a dark sky destination.
o To promote astrotourism.
Reduction of light pollution
What can be done?
Reducing
light pollution implies many things, such as reducing sky glow,
reducing glare, reducing light trespass, and reducing clutter. The
method for best reducing light pollution, therefore, depends on exactly
what the problem is in any given instance.
o Improving lighting fixtures
o Adjusting types of light sources
o Re-designing lighting plans
o Utilizing light sources of minimum intensity necessary to accomplish the light's purpose.
o Turning lights off using a timer or occupancy sensor or manually when not needed.
o Improving
lighting fixtures, so that they direct their light more accurately
towards where it is needed, and with less side effects.
o Adjusting the type of lights used, so that the light waves emitted are those that are less likely to cause severe light pollution problems.
o Evaluating
existing lighting plans, and re-designing some or all of the plans
depending on whether existing light is actually needed.
Solutions
o To ensure a natural sky at least in nature parks, fully shielded lighting is vital in both rural and cities.
o Most
lamps (at least 90%) are not fully shielded. We need global agreement
on fully shielded lamps, using environ-friendly types.
o Controls on illumination of surfaces, especially advertisements, are required as is a limit on unnecessary night lighting.
o Experience shows that light pollution can be countered only by effective laws (e.g. Italy and Slovenia).
o Light
pollution will not be reduced by voluntary work, so we recommend the
formation ot a professional international association of dark parks,
with the purpose of establishing professional networks in all countries.
At least one professional per million residents would be needed for
effective results.
Conclusion
o Light pollution is going to be a major problem in the world very soon.
o Nepal government should address this issue equally as other pollution issues.
o Nepal could be a dark sky destination if we preserve our natural dark sky.
o Nepal government should start lightning plans before it becomes too late.
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Nepal Astronomical Society NASO started working against light pollution
NASO is an organization of amateur astronomers and working in the field of astronomy for creating awareness in Nepalese society. It started a campaign against light pollution officially on 17th September 2009. The main motto of this campaign is to preserve dark sky and to make our country dark sky destination.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST LIGHT POLLUTION
Working team:
Coordinator : Mr. Sudeep Neupane
Team members: Mr. Riwaj Pokhrel
Mr. Suresh Bhattarai
Mr. Yagya Raj Joshi
Mr. Indra Subedi
Mr. GD Pudasaini
Mr. Rijendra Thapa
Mr. Arjun Panthee
Mr. Utsav Kandel
Mr. Sabin Karki
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