IYA-Springtime call for lightmeter requests
How Many Stars ...?: Call for lightmeter requests and regional campaigns
Summary
- Request a lightmeter to rapidly extend the night-sky monitoring network!
- Participate in the "eight years later"-campaign in May!
- Prepare your regional "How Many Stars ...?" campaign!
How many stars ...? http://starlit.astronomy2009.at/ is part of the http://www.darkskiesawarnes.org IYA-cornerstone.
Call for lightmeter requests
Lightmeter requests: The thirty prototypes of the first series are all distributed. A number of additional requests are in. To fund the production of the second series of instruments and guarantee a cost of less than 100 € we urgently need 100 orders.
Please consider to order a lightmeter immediately or adopt some, ie guarantee their funding or sponsor them. If we reach the 100 lightmeter requests we will be able to ship them within about five weeks. The present goal for delivery is the dark-time starting May 11th.
Mail your request to lightmeter@astronomy2009.at
To run a lightmeter you need
- a place with good view of the sky,
- a computer with USB and Windows XP, 2000, NT within 20 m
- 100 € for the lightmeter
For more information and runing lightmeters under Linux go to http://lightmeter.astronomy2009.at Login: Guest IYA2009
Special campaign in May: night sky-comparison 2001 - 2009
In May a special campaign will start to directly compare night-sky measurements to the results of the first "How Many stars ..." in 2001.
The May-campaign will allow a direct comparison of the present state of the night-skies to the thousands of sightings reported eight years ago.
The goal is to have the next 100 lightmeters at their new homes by then. So contact us now!
Call to prepare your regional campaigns
In April "How many stars ...?" takes over from Globe at night.
Initiate a campaign in your region in the following steps:
- LANGUAGE: Chose a language or translate to your favourite one.
Contact Verein@Kuffner-Sternwarte.at for access to implement your language at http://starlit.astronomy2009.at
- AREA: Select a geographical area for the display
of results appropriate to your campaign (e.g. city, country, continent).
- WEB-ADDRESS: Select a topical name of the form
mydomain.astronomy2009.at that is easy to hear and understand in your language for radio/audio-broadcast, short for TV and the press and easy to remember and type into the browser (examples below)
- TELL the media near you.
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About "How Many Stars...?"
Simple naked eye sightings of the Little Dipper or Orion serve to determine the quality of the world's night skies.
A network of newly-developed, low-cost lightmeters start the global continuous monitoring of artificial night sky brightening (light pollution).
Status of "How Many Stars... ? and the lightmeter Network"
Instructions are available in 14 languages (three more coming soon) and easily accessible via topical web-addresses that contain regional real-time maps of results.
http://starlit.astronomy2009.at leads to the English version with world maps, nebo.astronomy2009.at to Russian and Russia,for example.
Lightmeters are presently continuously monitoring the sky in Berlin, Vienna (2), Tautenburg/Jena (2), Figl-observatory near Vienna (2), Graz, Heidelberg, with installations in progress on Cerro Tollolo, Linz, Split, Suhl, Brno.
Illustrations:
Lightmeter photographed in starlight
HMS: present results
22:16, 21. Mär. 2009 GuentherWuchterl (