Mastodawn

Too wound up to go to bed, so I just sent lots of emails to people hoping that they'll spread the word and get lots more people to write comments to the FCC telling them that orbital data centres and sunlight-as-a-service are incredibly stupid, dangerous ideas and should never be launched.

Instructions how to submit here: https://darksky.org/news/two-satellite-proposals-threaten-the-night-sky-the-window-to-act-is-now/

I don't think it'll actually make a big difference. But I do think it's incredibly important that the official record shows how many opposed this.

Satellite proposals threaten the night sky

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the agency responsible for authorizing satellite launches and operations…

DarkSky International

BobReflected Feb 14

Last Saturday I spent the day at this year's European Astrofest in London. I learnt a lot, eat too much and tried not to spend a fortune on new toys. These are my reflections on the day ...

https://bobreflected.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-house-of-astronomy-astrofest.html

BobReflected Feb 11

I've read innumerable books during our long, wet, cloud-covered ongoing winter.

It's always my aim to write a brief review of a book after I finish it - but I now have a daunting backlog, and the compressing greyness has undermined all motivation.

BobReflected Feb 9

Salva Bará Feb 8

Again and again...

"Overall, the results suggest that switching off public lighting does not have a significant effect on crime"

Chloé Beaudet. Université Paris-Saclay, 2025.

https://pastel.hal.science/tel-05437768v1

Towards Sustainable Lighting : Socio-Economic Analyses of Light Pollution Reduction Policies

This dissertation focuses on the policies implemented by French municipalities regarding public lighting to reduce light pollution, and their socio-economic consequences. It aims to provide new insights for integrating the societal dimension into decision-making on public lighting, a dimension often overshadowed by ecological concerns alone.In the first chapter, we focus on the social acceptability of light pollution reduction policies. Using the case study of the Montpellier metropolitan area, we rely on a discrete choice experiment to evaluate citizens' willingness to pay for three types of policies: reducing light intensity, switching off public lighting, and changing the color of light from white to orange. A latent class model identifies two groups of preferences: one generally favorable to the proposed policies, the other rather unfavorable, particularly toward switching off lighting between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.The second chapter compares two methods for mapping preferences from a discrete choice experiment at a fine spatial scale. We evaluate them in two ways: first through a theoretical case based on Monte Carlo simulations, and then by applying them to the data from Chapter 1 to map preferences at the infra-municipal level. The results show that one of the methods is the most effective, and better captures spatial heterogeneity in preferences.The third chapter develops a decision-support tool for lighting policies in the Montpellier Metropolitan Area, integrating both ecological and societal needs. Two spatial indicators are constructed: an ecological indicator, based on light pollution data and modeling of the needs of six species, and a social acceptability indicator derived from Chapter 2. The combination of these indicators, integrated into an user-friendly application, provides policymakers with a tool to prioritize actions and highlights the importance of adapting lighting policies to local contexts (down to the streetlight) rather than applying a uniform approach.The fourth chapter introduces the construction of a novel database on public lighting switch-off policies in French municipalities with more than 1,500 inhabitants. Using radiance time series from nighttime satellite data, we apply a break detection model, followed by a random forest classifier to distinguish switch-offs from other types of changes (renovation, reduced intensity). We first show that 64.4% of French municipalities adopted a switch-off policy between 2012 and 2023, including 53.3% after July 2022, and then identify the profiles of municipalities associated with the adoption of these policies.Finally, the fifth chapter evaluates the causal effect of public lighting switch-off policies on five types of crime between 2016 and 2023, using a staggered difference-in-differences approach. The results indicate that switching off public lighting has no impact on the types of crime under study, except for burglaries, where we observe a slight increase, mainly driven by high-density municipalities

BobReflected Jan 30

Sara Pritchard Jan 29

"One of the most significant, yet underappreciated environmental transformations associated with cities since the late nineteenth century is that of the night sky, and of #night itself." 🌌 --> 🌃

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vddcifniumnpsqudcqevv7a3/post/3mdlf4w3jyk2x

BobReflected Jan 30

Space Environmentalism Jan 29

"This week, the World Economic Forum came out with a report titled “Clear Orbit, Secure Future: A Call to Action on #SpaceDebris.” The report’s findings are, well, expensive. Even without any major collisions in orbit, WEF’s orbital population model projects that congestion in space will cost industry between $25.8B and $42.3B over the next decade. A destructive collision would send that number skyrocketing."

https://payloadspace.com/wefs-space-debris-report-projects-significant-costs/

#Space #SpaceEnvironment

WEF’s Space Debris Report Projects Significant Costs

This week, the World Economic Forum came out with a report, produced in partnership with the Centre for Space Futures, the Saudi Space Agency, LeoLabs, and Novaspace, titled “Clear Orbit, Secure Future: A Call to Action on Space Debris.”

Payload

BobReflected Jan 22

I had a wonderful time today at a local primary school's space evening. I was there as a member of a local amateur astronomy club - https://sekas.co.uk/
A couple of hundred children and parents - and many committed teachers - engaged enthusiastically, despite the clouds.

South East Kent Astronomical Society – Just another WordPress site

BobReflected Jan 21

Clare Jan 20

“We thought we were done with these things but we were wrong.
We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.
We thought the long train would run to the end of Time.
We thought the light would increase.
Now the long train stands derailed and the bandits loot it.
Now the boar and the asp have power in our time.
Now the night rolls back on the West and the night is solid.
Our fathers and ourselves sowed dragon’s teeth.
Our children know and suffer the armed men.”

https://allpoetry.com/Litany-for-Dictatorships

Stefan Siegert Jan 14

"With 4 parameters I can fit an elephant, and with 5 I can make him all fluffy." - John von Neumann

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann%27s_elephant

fluffy = 100
x(t) = -60*cos(t) + 30*sin(t) - 8*sin(2*t) + 10*sin(3*t) + sin(fluffy*t)
y(t) = 50*sin(t) + 18*sin(2*t) - 12 * cos(3*t) + 14 * cos(5*t) + cos(fluffy*t)

#mathematics #physics #rstats #genuary #genuary14