The Citizen-Scientist as Data Collector: GLOBE at Night, Part 2

Details The Citizen-Scientist as Data Collector: GLOBE at Night, Part 2 The Citizen-Scientist as Data Collector: GLOBE at Night, Part 2

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmed43e0965w&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #ED43E-0965

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

0820 Curriculum And Laboratory Design, 0825 Teaching Methods, 0830 Teacher Training, 0845 Instructional Tools, 0855 Diversity

Scientific paper

An innovative program to realize light pollution education on two continents via Internet 2-based videoconferencing was begun 4 years ago by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Bilingual science teachers and their students in Arizona and Chile recorded the brightness of the night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with one of 6 stellar maps of limiting magnitude. Students from both hemispheres would report their findings via videoconferences. In the last year the program has evolved in collaboration with UCAR and other partners into an international, user-friendly, web-based science event open to anyone in the world, known as GLOBE at Night. GLOBE at Night uses the same design to observe and record the visible stars toward Orion, as a means of measuring light pollution in a given location. The inaugural event occurred over 11 nights last March, when 18,000 citizen- scientists made over 4,500 observations from 96 countries. Analysis of the GLOBE at Night data set found that the brighter skies corresponded to areas with higher population density, and that most observations were taken in a location with some light pollution. The data also tended to confirm that satellite data is reliable in assessing light pollution. This session will describe our program to incorporate more technology into the GLOBE at Night program. Citizen-scientists will use sky quality meters (visible light photometers), calibrated digital photography, and GPS as a means to measure and map more accurately the brightness of the sky at selected urban and rural sites. This extension of the program is designed to aid further in teaching about the impact of artificial lighting on local environments and the ongoing loss of a dark night sky as a natural resource. We will also describe how detailed maps of selected urban areas can be used to assess lighting design, safety considerations and energy usage. Given the widespread interest in the inaugural GLOBE at Night event, the GLOBE at Night team is eager to offer it again from March 8-21, 2007. For more information, see www.globe.gov/GaN or contact globeatnight@globe.gov or outreach@noao.edu. GLOBE at Night is a collaboration between The GLOBE Program, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), Centro de Apoyo a la Didactica de la Astronomia (CADIAS), Windows to the Universe, and Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI). NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Citizen-Scientist as Data Collector: GLOBE at Night, Part 2 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Citizen-Scientist as Data Collector: GLOBE at Night, Part 2, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Citizen-Scientist as Data Collector: GLOBE at Night, Part 2 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-963592