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Past and Present Studies Relating to the Illumination of the Night Sky

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Merle F. Walker
Merle F. Walker*
Affiliation:
Lick Observatory Board of Studies in Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064

Extract

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During the period from 1965-1977, I was engaged in a program of selecting and acquiring a new dark sky site in California for the Lick Observatory. Even though the effort was, in the end, unsuccessful, this work did lead to several important advances in our understanding of the general problem of optimizing optical-region astronomical observing conditions. These included:

  1. 1) The development of the polar star trail method of seeing measurement (Harlan and Walker 1965; Walker 1971).

  2. 2) Definition of the conditions required to optimize the seeing through the use of the polar star trail method of measurement at a number of potential and established observing sites around the world (Walker 1970, 1971, 1983, 1984; McInnes and Walker 1974).

  3. 3) Demonstration of the widespread effects of atmospheric pollution in reducing photometric quality at potential sites in California (Walker 1970).

  4. 4) The first extensive study of the effects of light pollution on astronomical observations.

Type
Light Pollution
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 112: Light Pollution, Radio Interference, and Space Debris , 1991 , pp. 52 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1991

References

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