Throughout the month of October we will be working on a citizen science project to count the number and type of each light in a small area of downtown OKC. The data will help scientists understand more about light pollution.
Light pollution is caused by outdoor lighting that is either too bright, or misdirected. Light pollution affects humans, animals, insects, and plants. Scientists know from satellite images that light pollution is getting worse worldwide, but satellites cannot tell what types of outdoor lighting are causing the most issues.
Oklahoma has a unique opportunity to add to the scientific understanding of our universe by participating in this project. The area of OKC that we are cataloging is the brightest area that has been measured so far, our contributions will help scientists learn more about the types of lights we have and how many.
Our collection period is happening now and will continue until the end of October. We are only measuring a small area of the city so each volunteer will only be asked to do a few blocks or sometimes even just a parking lot. A tutorial on how to use the web app is available here:
https://nachtlicht-buehne.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/nl_tutorial_en/tutorial.html
Each volunteer will be asked to self assign a transect (blue lines on this image) and categorize, count, and report each light on their path. Some of the paths are as small as a single parking lot some span for a few blocks.
We will be cataloging every light in the area we are measuring from traffic lights to street lights to LED signs. This will help scientists understand what the main causes of light pollution are.
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