Nighttime Satellite Pic
This shot is a true classic and has been used to illustrate an important point about the cost of energy conservation and pollution. It was first published by the International Dark Sky Association to warn about light pollution at the National Optical Observatory in Arizona. It's a composite assembled from numerous shots, each taken on a clear night. There was an article on it in Sky & Telescope magazine about 10 tears ago. Copies of it can be purchased from the IDA in slides or posters.
It was later used to illustrate the vast amount of energy being beamed into space at night, energy that is utterly wasted. All that wasted light cost money, billions of dollars per year, because it requires fuel to make the electricity. The burning of that fuel dumps millions of tons of atmospheric pollution into the air each year.
Modern lighting technology has solved these problems but only rarely implemented. The solutions have been vigorously opposed by the energy industry.
When I see this photo I am reminded how easy it would be to conserve the energy, reduce the pollution and lower costs if it were not the official position of government and industry to consume as much as possible at all times at all costs.
The next time I get a "spike" in energy costs at home and at the gas pump, a pollution warning in the city or news about how we need energy independance, I'll remember this photo.
Steve