Light pollution : the global view : proceedings of the International Conference on Light Pollution, La Serena, Chile, held 5-7 March 2002

The effects of light pollution on flora, fauna -including humans and their widely varying night-time activities- are often subtle and need extensive field studies to be quantified in a sensible manner. Some of the highlights were: The presentation of the 1st world atlas of artificial night sky brightness (Cinzano et al.); the article by the International Darksky Association on their world-wide efforts to curb light pollution (Alvarez del Castillo et al.); the laws controlling light pollution implemented in Spain (Diaz et al.) and Chile (Sanhueza et al.), an overview of the work on radio frequency protection of sites (Cohen et al.) and the excellent introduction to the topic from the Chilean point of view (Daud). Related topics in the book are light pollution education, aircraft contrails, space advertising (with an added document provided by the relevant UN commission), and an experiment on involving the population of an entire country in measuring sky brightness, by using the internet and the media. The text is aimed at professionals from a wide range of disciplines related to lighting and its effects on the night-time environment in the broadest sense of the word. Lay persons interested in this emerging multi-disciplinary field can also find much of interest in this book. Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Discurso Del Representante de CONAMA....Pages 3-14 Global Monitoring of the Night Sky Brightness by Satellites and the State of the Night Sky in Chile....Pages 15-28 Modelling Night Sky Brightness at Sites from DMSP Satellite Data....Pages 29-37 The Growth of the Artificial Night Sky Brightness over North America in the Period 1947–2000: a Preliminary Picture....Pages 39-47 Preserving our Nighttime Environment: A Global Approach....Pages 49-67 Protecting the Night Sky of Northern Chile: An Environmental and Cultural Heritage....Pages 69-84 The Photometry Laboratory at the UCV and the Light Pollution Regulations in Chile....Pages 85-93 The “Law of the Heavens” of the Canaries....Pages 95-109 Protection of Mauna Kea and Haleakala Observatories from Light Pollution....Pages 111-121 The IAU’s Efforts to Control Light Pollution....Pages 123-133 Lighting in the Countryside....Pages 135-143 International Schools Education Networks for Light Pollution Control....Pages 145-153 Precise Evaluation of Upward Flux from Outdoor Lighting Installations....Pages 155-167 Lighting for a Secure and Safe Night-Time Environment....Pages 169-173 Preserving the Night Sky at McDonald Observatory....Pages 175-179 Sky Background at ESO — La Silla in the Visible and Near-IR....Pages 181-186 The Tololo All-Sky CAmera — TASCA....Pages 187-194 Increasing The Chilean Awareness of Dark-Sky Preservation....Pages 195-200 Research on the Impact of Lighting on Environment and Humans....Pages 201-214 Sports Lighting that Protects the Dark Sky....Pages 215-222 Front Matter....Pages 223-223 Radio-Quiet Zones....Pages 225-259 Front Matter....Pages 261-261 Aircraft Contrail Pollution....Pages 263-267 Advertising from Space: A Real Danger?....Pages 269-276 Obtrusive Space Advertising and Astronomical Research....Pages 277-286 How many Stars do we still see?....Pages 287-292 Light Pollution as a Policy Tool....Pages 293-295 Back Matter....Pages 297-306