[ahmed_haider (Ahmed)]

Hi all,

I am a member of the ASNSW and we've received a request for help from a student of John Therry Catholic college Rosemeadow. The request is copied below:
I am currently conducting research on the topic of Quantifying the Impact of Light Pollution on Star Visibility Using Spectral Analysis for my Science Extension Project. As this area intersects both astronomy and environmental science, I am reaching out to seek your expertise and any additional resources or advice you may be able to offer.

My study focuses on understanding how various artificial light sources, such as LEDs, sodium vapor, and halogen lights, contribute to light pollution and affect star visibility. I aim to measure sky brightness and star magnitude under different lighting conditions, employing spectral filtering to isolate specific wavelength contributions.

I do not have any training in Astronomy and am only an amateur astrophotographer with limited knowledge. I would like to learn more about spectroscopy in general and this students research topic specifically, any help is appreciated!

- How to go about observing spectra of stars? (I have a telescope equipped with an astronomy camera but no spectroscopy equipment)
- How to measure light pollution or sky brightness and is there a way to control the factors discussed (LED's lights, sodium vapor, halogen lights)

Thanks in advance!
Ahmed