Monday, December 12, 2011

Light Pollution on Google Maps


One of the biggest problems for urban astronomers is light pollution. The Blue Marble Nightlights map is a Google Map that shows this problem worldwide.

Blue Marble Nightlights is a composite map of satellite images taken in 2003. Even if you aren't concerned about light pollution the map provides an interesting insight into urban centres in the first world (many non-first world cities are still relatively dark at night).

Europe and the Eastern USA are lit up like a Christmas tree. In Australia you can just make out most of the coast, whilst the interior of the country remains largely unlit.

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3 comments:

Unknown said...

yeah, compare South Korea to North Korea too.

Gordon Mancuso said...

India looks different than other countries. Most places on the map have small intense lights, showing the presence of cities, while places in between are fairly dark. India has those bright spots, but in between it is awash in a less intense bath of light. I wonder what makes India different.

And that North/South Korea difference is really incredible.

Anonymous said...

There are no street light in India