Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Studying Light Pollution In And Around Tucson, Az, Rachel K. Nydegger

Physics Capstone Projects

Eight housed data logging Sky Quality Meters (SQMs) are being used to gather light pollution data in southern Arizona: one at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, four located at cardinal points at the outskirts of the city, and three situated on surrounding mountain tops. To examine specifically the effect of artificial lights, the data are reduced to exclude four natural contributors to lighting the night sky, namely, the sun, the moon, and the Milky Way. Faulty data (i.e., when certain parameters were met) were also excluded. Data were subsequently analyzed by a recently developed night sky brightness …