Light Pollution I

Bad illumination is killing the night sky. Many places are over illuminated with the wrong candles and wrong lamps. The practice of professional and amateur astronomy is being jeopardized with the crescent illumination everywere. The first image was taken in a village in Portugal, St.Andre, illuminated with high pressure Sodium lamps. The sky is not visible. The second image was taken at Garafia, La Palma Island, illuminated with low pressure Sodium lamps. At La Palma the Sky Law preserves the dark skies necessary to the practice of professional astronomy. The results, expressed in the images, speak by themselves. Both images were taken with the same camera and settings (30s at f/2.8 ISO400).