hi friends,
I aplogize for not being around here for a long time.
day life kept me very busy and cloudy nights kept me frustrated...*g*
let me congratulate everyone of you, producing so beautiful images of intriguing objects!
7 weeks no clear skies, no photography - but so what.
I used the time to strew astronomy among the crouds.
some astronomy-talks, some tutorials have taken place meanwhile and will take place in near future.
it is my intention to bring topics like "light-pollution" and year of astronomy to people's minds.
particularly the cornerstone-project "dark-sky" is foremost on my mind and I am working hard to convince a couple majors in some villages and in the city of linz to look into the possibilities to reduce light pollution.
the ars electronica center in linz is going to cooperate and the major of my home-village wants to build a public observatory!
he is gonna replace the insufficient street-lights with zero-cut off ones.
so, the stone is rolling and I'd like to motivate you all, to also go and try your best.
I know many of you already do that and make great efforts.
it is all about "mind-setting" in common people (common in terms of non-astronomical) - let us make them ask for "what is light-pollution?"
once this term is their minds, they might stand up and act.
reducing light pollution is a multiple win-win - situation for all people involved!
here is some literature and some web-links covering the topics:
www.unesco.at
www.iau.org
www.darksky.org
www.lichtverschmutzung.de
www.hellenot.com
www.globe.gov/globeatnight
www.sternhell.at
www.darkskiesawareness.org
- Itai Kloog (University of Haifa),
- Abraham Haim (University of Haifa-Oranim),
- Richard G. Stevens (University of Connecticut Health Center),
- Micah Barchana and Boris A. Portnov (University of Haifa)
- Željko Andreic, Doroteja Andreic, Ana Bonaca, Korado Korlevic, Petra Korlevic and Mirna Kramar, Višnjan Education Center: "Modelling of light pollution on the territory of Republic of Croatia“
André Müller, Max-Planck Institut for Astronomy, Heidelberg and Günther Wuchterl, Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg: "The First Continous Measurements of Nightsky Brightness with a New Low Cost Luxmeter"
Christoph Aubrecht, Austrian Research Centers GmbH – ARC and C. D. Elvidge, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration: "Satellite observed nighttime lights as an indicator of human induced stress on coral reefs"
Andreas Hänel, Fachgruppe Dark Sky: "10 years of European Symposiums for the Protection of the Night Sky"
I wish you all the best!
Dietmar
You can't enter back into these forums without gracing us with one of your sensational images. What's going on here? 
