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| User Accounts |
| Due to the overwhelming amount of junk messages posted as comments, FAQ suggestions, etc., user accounts and commenting have been disabled on the site. |
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| Q: |
What is light pollution? |
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| A: |
Light pollution is excessive, misdirected, and inefficient outdoor illumination. Examples of light pollution include:
- Lights shining across property boundaries, such as into a neighbor's windows
- Glare--light shining in your eyes
- Lights shining upward into the sky to add to the general sky glow
- Using too much light (overlighting)
- Energy waste, caused by using inefficient (typically outdated) lighting technologies
Learn more from this extensive article by the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
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| Q: |
What is SELENE? |
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| A: |
SELENE is a grassroots group of NYS residents seeking to bring better lighting practices to NY State.
SELENE believes that lighting at night is a necessity, but insists that it must be done in a wise manner: light only when necessary; use motion-sensors when possible; use full-cutoff designs to minimize glare, uplighting and trespass; and use appropriately-bright and energy-wise lamps in all cases. |
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| Q: |
What are the benefits of creating a user account on the SELENE site? What are the downsides? |
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| A: |
Creating an account on our site enables you to participate in our organization through involvement in our online community. Once you create an account and log on, you will be able to:
- Post messages to our forums
- Comment on announcements, articles, FAQs, and more
- Receive our occasional e-newsletters
- Suggest new FAQs
- ... and more
There really aren't any downsides. We don't sell, rent, or share your email address with anyone. We won't bombard you with our own email (though we will send you occasional email messages). And, we won't ask you for money! |
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| Q: |
Where can I get good lights? |
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| A: |
Few "big box" retailers sell well-shielded efficient lights. Instead, they sell lots of "brass and glass" decorative fixtures that feature no shielding at all. Or, they tout the horrible 175-watt mercury vapor "barn lights" as security lights, and probably sell boatloads of them for $20 or less apiece.
Yuck!
Try these sources instead:
Lighting products
The GlareBuster: www.theglarebuster.com
Parshield glare visors: www.parshield.com
Online retailers
Night sky friendly outdoor lighting from StarryNightLights
Looking for more info? Check out the IDA's list of IDA-Approved lighting manufacturers
(Make sure to check out our flyer on good and bad lights!)
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| Q: |
How can I tell how bad my skies are? |
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| A: |
Sky glow is a major problem--roughtly two-thirds of those in the USA cannot see the Milky Way because of light pollution.
How bad (or good) is your sky? You have a few options for determining the answer to this question.
You can check out the light pollution maps available from Attilla Danko's Clear Sky Clocks system. Click the bar graph next to an observatory near you. Under the graphic will be a link for a light pollution map, which will estimate your sky brightness.
You could use the Sky Quality Meter from Unihedron to measure your sky brightness.
You could do a star count.
There's even more information on the IDA's Measuring Light Pollution page. |
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