1999/10/20 by P. Cinzano, Cinzano, P., Fabio Falchi +8
Engineering · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Impact of Light on Environment and Health #Optical Wireless Communication Technologies #Remote Sensing in Agriculture #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9910379
8 pages, 6 PostScript figures, paspconf.sty, to appear in IAU-UN Symposium 196 "The Protection of the Astronomical Sky"
arxiv created 1999/10/20 · openalex publication_date 1999/10/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present the map of the artificial sky brightness in Europe in V band with a resolution of approximately 1 km. The aim is to understand the state of night sky pollution in Europe, to quantify the present situation and to allow future monitoring of trends. The artificial sky brightness in each site at a given position on the sky is obtained by integration of the contributions produced by every surface area in the surroundings of the site. Each contribution is computed taking into account based on detailed models the propagation in the atmosphere of the upward light flux emitted by the area and measured by the Operational Linescan System of DMSP satellites. The modelling technique, introduced and developed by Garstang and also applied by Cinzano, takes into account the extinction along light paths, a double scattering of light from atmospheric molecules and aerosols, Earth curvature and allows to associate the predictions to the aerosol content of the atmosphere.