Look, a satellite!

Background: https://astronomersappeal.wordpress.com/2020/01/09/astronomers-appeal/

A network of 40 photometers to monitor La Palma’s night sky

A network of 40 photometers, to be distributed all over the island, will monitor the quality of the night sky over La Palma. Their data is supposed to be made public, and to contain real-time information about sky darkness, temperature, and cloud cover.

Rule number one

La Palma’s streetlights are (for the most part) dark sky friendly: amber-colored, shielded to the ground, and not overly bright. However, the simplest rule to avoid light pollution is to only illuminate what and when needed. Or simply: Don’t illuminate at all when nobody needs light.

And the next one…

Another overly bright LED billboard. Seen in Los Llanos, May 3, 2019, at 22:40 local time.

Los Llanos: An intelligently lit crosswalk

“Light only when you need it” is the most fundamental rule when it comes to outdoor lighting. This crosswalk in Los Llanos municipality on La Palma is a textbook example of how it’s done.

Meet the men who protect La Palma’s dark skies

The newspaper Diario de Avisos has published an article today that I recommend strongly to read (if you speak Spanish) or hand over to your favorite translating machine. It’s about the work of two astronomers of the IAC’s Sky Quality Protection Technical Office, OTPC for short. By enforcing the Sky Law, they try to keep La Palma’s skies as dark as possible.

El Paso’s LED billboard is 60 times brighter than allowed

El Paso’s new LED billboard (featured in my first post on La Palma Lightpollution) was still active on February 25 – despite a complaint filed by the OTPC, the IAC’s Sky Quality Protection Technical Office earlier this month. According to the OTPC, there is no response from the municipality yet, who is responsible for the billboard’s operation.

Nothing to see here

except for those interested in this hardware store’s merchandise at night. As a courtesy, floodlight is complimentary. Seen in El Paso, La Palma. The store was closed, btw.

Los Llanos: Poorly adjusted public floodlights

La Palma’s “Sky Law” requires public lighting to be directed downwards to avoid direct light scatter and skyglow. Most streetlights therefore have full cut-off housings. But some lights could be better, much better. One bright example are floodlights, especially the ones used in Los Llanos’ municipal stadium.

Tijarafe: Lightpollution by a public school

The purpose of this installation is a mystery to me, but it’s bright, white, and creates significant lightpollution over the small village of Tijarafe on La Palma’s western coast. Oddly enough, it’s mounted on a window of a public education center (CEO Tijarafe). This is what it looks like at night: