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Oct 31, 2008 3:09 pm US/Eastern
Measuring 'Light Pollution' In Skies Around Boston
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
For the last several weeks, students across the country have been looking at the night sky and counting the stars visible from where they live. It's part of a study looking at a new kind of pollution that is flooding our cities -
light pollution.
"The idea is to gauge how much light pollution we have overhead by literally counting stars," said astronomer
Kelly Beatty. "On a completely dark night, when it is good and clear and there's no moon out, you could see 1500, 2000 stars."
But around Boston you're lucky to see a 100, thanks to the orangey glow of light pollution. It's everywhere. You can even see the lights of Boston from space, and it truly is a waste.
The Boston metro area loses about 15 million kw hours each year out into space, which adds up to about $20 million in wasted energy.
"We want the light on the ground. We don't want the lights lighting the clouds above and the sky above."
Bernie Kosicki is helping to keep the sky dark over his hometown of Acton. He is tackling old street lights that spread light both down toward the street and up towards the sky. Eight hundred lights are being retrofitted to only shine down, cutting the street lighting bill in half.
Bernie says this new way of thinking is simple. "Turn off the lights when you go out of the room basically. That's what my mother told me."
The city of Boston has been cutting down on light pollution for the last couple months. A program called "
Lights Out Boston" asks city buildings to go dark at night – in large part to help migratory birds that fly through dark skies. With bird migration season over, "Lights Out" ends Friday night.
State officials are now just beginning to address wasteful light pollution, but at this time, no official action plan has been set.
View: NASA Photos of Cities at Night
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