The Hindu : New Delhi News : Project to measure light pollution

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Monday, Jun 16, 2008
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New Delhi

Project to measure light pollution

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: A group of people besotted with the dark skies are working on a special project these days to measure light pollution in Delhi and some other cities.

Nehru Planetarium and non-government organisation Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators started the “Taare Sadak Par” project in March this year. While the Planetarium is working with groups from across the country in the programme for measuring light pollution, SPACE is coordinating with school groups to create awareness about the dark sky and help students measure light pollution. Besides amateur astronomers even the uninitiated, who have spotted the difference between the inspiring night sky in villages and the countryside and the murky brown depressing sky of the cities with just a few stars visible, can participate in the programme.Excessive light pollution not only deprives children and celestial lovers of an opportunity to view the night sky lit up by stars, but also affects nocturnal life.

The group of light pollution awareness campaigners are setting out to measure the distribution pattern of light pollution in different regions of the Capital and also in Sonepat, Lucknow, Vadodara, Nagpur, Chennai and Bangalore.

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