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Even outdoor lighting is not without problems, especially two recent trends are worrying: - shift from low-pressure sodium lamps (which emit 95%+ of light in t
by nousermane 4y ago
Even outdoor lighting is not without problems, especially two recent trends are worrying:
- shift from low-pressure sodium lamps (which emit 95%+ of light in the narrow peak, so are a bit easier to filter out in astronomy application, and also don't trigger blue-light neural response in humans, and animals alike) to LEDs (which pollute across the visible spectrum, with plenty of blue light component);
- as light efficiency increases, people often choose to utilize it to increase lighting intensity within same electric power budget, rather than keep same output in lumens, and save some power.
- mnw21cam 4y agoMy village recently switched to LED street lamps, and I hate them. The light pollution has definitely become worse here over the last ten years. The village lights switch off around 1am, but that doesn't seem to make a jot of difference to my astrophotography, because the town 4 miles to the South and the city 10 miles to the North keep theirs switched on.
- OkayPhysicist 4y agoI really missed the sodium lamps after my university "upgraded" to LED. There was something peaceful about the monochrome, and their gentle whine when they got too old.