Light Pollution: Night Sky examples

by Georg Zotti

In 2006-2008 I had the chance to take nocturnal all-sky photographs with a Canon EOS 5D and 8mm Fisheye lens at various locations. Here you can see comparative results of night sky darkness in suburban area of Vienna, Austria, a rural location north of Vienna, and sites in the Libyan desert and in Western Mongolia. Most exposures are of (almost) equal duration with the same equipment (almost - the first camera was stolen in early 2007), and were processed with equal settings with Canon DPP.

This page provides a quick overview. Click on each image for a larger version. Full resolution is available, please contact me if you need them in publications.

2007-08-23 00:17 Vienna/Kahlenberg (30s)
2007-08-23 00:19 Vienna/Kahlenberg (103s)
2007-08-22 23:20 Vienna/Sophienalpe (127s)
2007-08-23 01:35 Grossmugl near Vienna (127s)

2007-09-14 21:55 Vienna/Sophienalpe (124s)
2007-09-14 22:39 Vienna/Sophienalpe (121s)
2007-09-14 23:22 Vienna/Sophienalpe (120s) This sequence shows a tiny effect of reducing public illumination at 23:00 o'clock between second and third images. (It is most apparent in numerical image processing).

2006-03-29 21:06 Libyan Desert (120s)
2008-07-30 01:04 Western Mongolia/Khovd (120s) This is what a truly unpolluted sky should look like! Only on the horizon we can see 2 tourist camps (Libya) or a small village with (bad!) public illumination. In Libya, the Zodiacal Light was quite obvious (top right, plus most of the ecliptic zone!)

2007-08-23 00:17 Vienna/Kahlenberg (30s)	2007-08-23 00:19 Vienna/Kahlenberg (103s)	2007-08-22 23:20 Vienna/Sophienalpe (127s)	2007-08-23 01:35 Grossmugl near Vienna (127s)
2007-09-14 21:55 Vienna/Sophienalpe (124s)	2007-09-14 22:39 Vienna/Sophienalpe (121s)	2007-09-14 23:22 Vienna/Sophienalpe (120s)	This sequence shows a tiny effect of reducing public illumination at 23:00 o'clock between second and third images. (It is most apparent in numerical image processing).
2006-03-29 21:06 Libyan Desert (120s)	2008-07-30 01:04 Western Mongolia/Khovd (120s)	This is what a truly unpolluted sky should look like! Only on the horizon we can see 2 tourist camps (Libya) or a small village with (bad!) public illumination. In Libya, the Zodiacal Light was quite obvious (top right, plus most of the ecliptic zone!)