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Using a Digital Camera to Measure Skyglow
Posted Date:
21 Apr 2008
Total Responses:
0
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Posted By: sharathsathisan
Member Level: Silver Posted Date: 21 Apr 2008
Revenue Score: 
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Objective
The goal of this project is to measure skyglow (also known as light pollution) in the nighttime sky using a digital camera.
Introduction
If you've ever had the chance to see the clear night sky somewhere "out in the country" and away from city lights, you know that there are many more stars to see under these darker conditions. In urban and suburban areas, artificial lights create a skyglow that is bright enough to obscure dimmer stars.
Skyglow is scattered light in the atmosphere from artifical light sources on the surface. In the daytime, the bright light of the sun obscures any light from more distant stars. Skyglow acts in a similar way to obscure starlight. In urban areas, bright skyglow obscures light from all but the brightest stars.
An experienced stargazer can estimate the amount of skyglow in a given location by noting what features of the night sky can and cannot be seen. The Bortle Dark Sky Scale is a recent example of this type of skyglow measurement (Bortle, 2001; NOVAC, date unknown). A problem with any such scale is that familiarity with the night sky is required in order to use it. If you are just starting out in astronomy, you won't have that knowledge.
This project shows you how to use a digital camera to get a quantitative measure of skyglow. You could use the information you collect in this project to find out what stars you could expect to see in a new location, after taking a reading in the new location with your digital camera.
Terms, Concepts and Questions to Start Background Research
To do this project, you should do research that enables you to understand the following terms and concepts:
* pixel gray levels,
* saturation,
* dynamic range,
* apparent magnitude (measurement for brightness of stars),
* zenith,
* horizon,
* altitude.
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