robot guy

Light pollution is the bane of astronomers everywhere. Light from cities tends to wash out our view of the night sky, making observations difficult. Generally speaking, the more artificial light in the area, the less starlight one is able to see. Now, an effort is underway to quantify just how much light pollution is in one's general vicinity, and anyone with an internet connection and a sky above can participate. Via Dave Pearson and Astronomy Buff comes word of the Globe at Night project. Here's the basic idea:

First, look up your latitude and longitude (you can do that here or here).

Next, sometime between 7pm and 10pm local time from March 8th to March 21st, go outside and find Orion. This constellation was chosen because it is visible to pretty much everybody and is highly recognizable.

Then, match your nighttime sky to one of Globe at Night's magnitude charts. Stars with higher magnitude numbers are fainter, so the less light pollution there is in your area the higher the magnitude of star you can see. Report your results to Globe at Night.

If one is so inclined, you can compare your results to those of people around the world.

Last year, more than 18000 people from 96 countries participated in the study; of course, the more people who participate, the better the results will be. Tell your friends!