Essay Sample about Light Pollution

📌Category: Environment, Pollution
📌Words: 1088
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 06 February 2022

What is the effect of light pollution on society? For our first Signature Assignment, we chose, “Counting the Stars'' project. Our assignment consisted of three different locations, all with different points of view and lighting. We chose these three specific locations due to accessibility, lighting, and the time of night that we did this project. 

To begin with, over some time our group decided what night would be the best possible night to count the stars. We decided to do the night of Monday, October 4, 2021, from 10 pm until 10:30, because the phase of the moon that night was Waning Crescent. We chose to observe and count the stars on October 4th, because the moon only illuminated the sky by 5%. Counting and observing the stars on a clear, moonless night is important because that is when stars are the most visible to the human eye. The closest phase of the moon to the New Moon is the Waning Crescent. Ideally, the best night to observe the stars is when the moon is in the phase of a New Moon, but due to weather circumstances, such as thunderstorm clouds and smoke, it would have blocked the view of the night sky. 

How do you count the stars in the sky? To start off, we all got a toilet paper roll, and drove to the different locations. Next, we sat at each location for twenty minutes to help our eyes adjust to the dark. Then, we held the toilet paper roll up to eight different spots in the sky and counted how many stars we could visibly see by the human eye. We plotted down each observation, and then added up all 8 observations. Next, we needed to find the total number of stars visible at each location, by using a math equation (the example of the equation is a couple pages down). Once we plugged in our numbers, we were able to find the estimated total number of visible stars at each location. Each of us chose a different location to observe and then we all entered our data. Something we would have done differently to get better and more accurate measurements, would be to try holding the tube as steady as possible. Something we would do differently next time, would be to all meet together, so that we could all view the stars together, and see the different viewpoints with different lighting.

Beginning with location one, which was at Station Park by the fountains, there were many lights. This made it hard to count the number of stars, because of the heavy level of light pollution. 

Next up is location two! This location was in a field out in Hooper, Utah! This field had almost no light pollution and was extremely dark. The level of darkness made it easy to count the stars in the night sky, because there were no lights for miles and miles. No light pollution, made looking through the toilet paper roll nice and clear. This was the location we could see the most stars in, because it was so dark!

Finally, the third location! This location was right outside of an office building in Ogden, Utah. There were some lights, but not lots, so this made it somewhat hard to count the stars, because there was light pollution, so it made it hard to count the stars, but easier than viewing the stars in bright lights, because the lights weren’t as bright.

As we reviewed the textbook, Chapter 5 is called “The Formation of Stars and Planets.” Page 96 states that “A star is a ball of gas, held together by its gravity, that fuses lighter atoms into heavier ones in its dense core, releasing energy in the process” (Palen, Blumenthal). A star is seen at night due to energy causing the outer parts of the star to shine, due to heat bodies. Chapter 10, “Measuring the Stars” talks about the luminosity of a star and its magnitude. “Magnitude has come to mean a measure of a star’s brightness in the sky, but note the magnitude of the object decreases as its brightness increases” (Palen, Blumenthal). Ex: If an object of magnitude 2 is much more than twice as bright as an object of magnitude 4. The magnitude of a star is called the star’s apparent magnitude. The apparent magnitude is the brightness of stars as they appear to us in the sky, this does not tell us how much light it admits.

To continue, answering the first question “Why are astronomers concerned about the effect of light pollution from cities near their telescopes?” Light pollution has been found to make the sky significantly brighter than it is. As we stated before, you will be able to see more stars in a dark country area, rather than in the middle of a lit-up park. The second reason why they are concerned is that there are no corrective lenses that can filter out the light pollution seen in mechanical tools such as the telescope. If you are interested you can read more from this article How does light pollution affect astronomers? (Intermediate) - Curious About Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer (cornell.edu). So how are we able to alleviate light pollution? There is a simple answer that may seem minor but in the long run, can become beneficial. The simple answer is to turn your lights off. Not only does turning your lights off help you and your power bill, but it also makes the night sky much easier to see with the human eye rather than seeing the false illumination many of us mistake for stars. 

Coming to an end, The Big Question “How do observations and analysis work together in science?” To start with, observation is something used to collect and record data. Scientists can observe in many ways, through their senses or mechanically with tools such as a telescope. The definition of analysis is a detailed examination of the elements or structure of something. These two work together by being able to bounce ideas back and forth, from being able to hypothesize and then putting that hypothesis to the test. For example, when we were watching the stars from the three different areas, we were analyzing what we were going to see based on the illumination of the night sky.

As we conclude, the chapters that we reviewed in the book go into detail about every importance that comes from viewing the stars at night. We know that if the moon is illuminating the sky, we will not be able to identify stars as easily due to the light that is given off. If you go outside on a night of a New Moon with a clear sky, the chances of seeing more stars are very likely. We also know that lighting around you matters when looking at stars. The number of stars you can see in the city rather than a field in the dark will give you a great range of stars that are visual to you.

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