— NASA's Hubble confirms that galaxies are the ultimate recyclers — New observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are expanding astronomers' understanding of the ways in which galaxies continuously recycle immense volumes of hydrogen gas and heavy…
— Frozen comet had a watery past, University of Arizona scientists find — For the first time, scientists have found convincing evidence for the presence of liquid water in a comet, shattering the current paradigm that comets never get warm enough to melt…
— Sugar-grain sized meteorites rocked the climates of early Earth and Mars — Bombardments of 'micro-meteorites' on Earth and Mars four billion years ago may have caused the planets' climates to cool dramatically, hampering their ability to support life, according…
— Astrophysicist: White dwarfs could be fertile ground for other Earths — Planet hunters have found hundreds of planets outside the solar system in the last decade, though it is unclear whether even one might be habitable. But it could be that the best place…
— Integral spots matter a millisecond from doom — ESA's Integral gamma-ray observatory has spotted extremely hot matter just a millisecond before it plunges into the oblivion of a black hole. But is it really doomed? These unique observations…
— MESSENGER spacecraft to swing into orbit around Mercury — At 8:45 p.m. EDT on March 17, the MESSENGER spacecraft will execute a 15-minute manoeuvre that will place it into orbit around Mercury, making it the first craft ever to do so, and…
— Baby stars born to 'napping' parents — Cardiff University astronomers believe that a young star's long 'napping' could trigger the formation of a second generation of smaller stars and planets orbiting around it…
— Oldest objects in solar system indicate a turbulent beginning — Scientists have found that calcium, aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs), some of the oldest objects in the solar system, formed far away from our sun and then later fell back into the…
— Oxygen isotope analysis tells of the wandering life of a dust grain 4.5 billion years ago — Scientists have performed a micro-probe analysis of the core and outer layers of a pea-sized piece of a meteorite some 4.57 billion years old to reconstruct the history of its formation,…
Share your nightscape with the world
GLOBE at night, the international star-counting programme, starts today, 16 March, 2009, a key activity during this International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009). Running between 16 and 28 March, it is a digital effort to obtain precise measurements of urban dark skies around the world using sky-quality meters.
How dark is your sky? Do you lose counts of the stars in your nightscape or are you lucky to spot even one? The reason city skies are dull compared to beautiful dark skies in the countryside is light pollution. GLOBE at night is your opportunity to contribute into a worldwide survey that will reveal where in the world you can go to see unspoilt dark skies.
Professor Ian Robson, chair of IYA2009 in the UK, says: 'Globe at Night is an excellent opportunity for people to get outside and see the night sky. Even from towns and cities it is possible to see Orion, and the information we get from everyone who takes part will allow us to build up a map of light pollution around the UK, and worldwide.'
The constellation of Orion, the great hunter, is used to gauge the magnitude of a dark sky (how dark the sky is). Through counting the number of stars in Orion's constellation visible to an unaided eye, you can conclude whether your sky has a measly magnitude of 1 (lucky to see even a few stars, normal in urban sprawls like London) or anything up to magnitude 7 (so many stars you lose count, possible in unspoilt natural beauty like, for example, The Shetland Islands).
Dr Connie Walker, senior science education specialist at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the US national research and development centre for ground-based night time astronomy, said, 'We have now passed the point where more than half of the world's population live in urban areas, which are notorious for being excessively lit or badly lit by artificial lights. GLOBE at night is an easy way for people around the world to connect with the increasingly powerful and accepted idea that good lighting saves money; it reduces our greenhouse gases by lowering our use of electrical power; it is better for public safety; and it allows everyone to share the wonders of the night sky.'
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