Images: Kelly Beatty
Join the NASA Night Sky Network on Thursday, January 28 at 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern) to hear Kelly Beatty discuss the impact of light pollution on society, and our ability to view the night sky.
Light pollution has become a pervasive and ugly consequence of our 24/7 society. Few of us can enjoy a star-spangled night sky any longer, thanks to the glowing pall caused by all the lights that line roadways, parking lots, and backyards. More ominously, a growing body of research finds that excessive light at night disrupts nocturnal ecosystems, sometimes dramatically. It can also inhibit the production of melatonin, a compound produced as we sleep—and only in darkness— that seems to play multiple roles in maintaining general human health. The situation has not been helped by the widespread rollout of light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Fortunately, the spread of light pollution can be halted and even reversed. Join Sky & Telescope’s Kelly Beatty as he discusses how we can safely light up our homes, businesses, and communities without wasting energy, disturbing the neighbors, or creating an unhealthy environment for humans and wildlife.
About Kelly Beatty
Kelly Beatty has been explaining the science and wonder of astronomy to the public since 1974. An award-winning writer and communicator, he specializes in planetary science and space exploration as Senior Editor for Sky & Telescope magazine. Beatty enjoys sharing his passion for astronomy with a wide spectrum of audiences, from children to professional astronomers, and you'll occasionally hear his interviews and guest commentaries on National Public Radio and The Weather Channel. He served for a decade on the Board of Directors for the International Dark-Sky Association and is an officer for IDA's Massachusetts Chapter.
Registration and Additional information
Night Sky Network members can find more information and a link to register in advance for this webinar (login required) on the Outreach Resource page.
Further Information and Additional Viewing Options
The event will also be streaming live on YouTube, but please note that questions asked over the NSN-members-only Zoom Q&A will be prioritized.
Link: https://youtu.be/_udmZngg9hg
The recording will be uploaded both to the webinar's resource page and to the NSN YouTube page for folks that are unable to attend this evening's session.
Upcoming Webinars (all webinars are at 6pm PT/9pm ET)
Thursday, January 28: Darkness in Distress with Kelly Beatty
Join the NASA Night Sky Network on Thursday, January 28 at 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern) to hear Kelly Beatty discuss the impact of light pollution on society, and our ability to view the night sky.
Light pollution has become a pervasive and ugly consequence of our 24/7 society. Few of us can enjoy a star-spangled night sky any longer, thanks to the glowing pall caused by all the lights that line roadways, parking lots, and backyards. More ominously, a growing body of research finds that excessive light at night disrupts nocturnal ecosystems, sometimes dramatically. It can also inhibit the production of melatonin, a compound produced as we sleep—and only in darkness— that seems to play multiple roles in maintaining general human health. The situation has not been helped by the widespread rollout of light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Fortunately, the spread of light pollution can be halted and even reversed. Join Sky & Telescope’s Kelly Beatty as he discusses how we can safely light up our homes, businesses, and communities without wasting energy, disturbing the neighbors, or creating an unhealthy environment for humans and wildlife.
About Kelly Beatty
Kelly Beatty has been explaining the science and wonder of astronomy to the public since 1974. An award-winning writer and communicator, he specializes in planetary science and space exploration as Senior Editor for Sky & Telescope magazine. Beatty enjoys sharing his passion for astronomy with a wide spectrum of audiences, from children to professional astronomers, and you'll occasionally hear his interviews and guest commentaries on National Public Radio and The Weather Channel. He served for a decade on the Board of Directors for the International Dark-Sky Association and is an officer for IDA's Massachusetts Chapter.
Registration and Additional information
Night Sky Network members can find more information and a link to register in advance for this webinar (login required) on the Outreach Resource page.
Further Information and Additional Viewing Options
The event will also be streaming live on YouTube, but please note that questions asked over the NSN-members-only Zoom Q&A will be prioritized.
Link: https://youtu.be/_udmZngg9hg
The recording will be uploaded both to the webinar's resource page and to the NSN YouTube page for folks that are unable to attend this evening's session.
Upcoming Webinars (all webinars are at 6pm PT/9pm ET)
Thursday, January 28: Darkness in Distress with Kelly Beatty
Previous NSN Webinars
Images: NASA/Goddard/Univ. of Arizona
Click here to see a list of all previous webinarsThe NASA Night Sky Network on December 17 to heard Robert Nemiroff give us a tour of the highlights from the Astronomy Picture of the Day archive for 2020.
Along with Jerry Bonnell, Robert Nemiroff has written, coordinated, and edited NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) since 1995. The APOD archive contains the largest collection of annotated astronomical images on the internet.
Speaker Information
Dr. Robert Nemiroff is a professor of physics at Michigan Tech. He worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland before coming to Michigan Tech. He is perhaps best known scientifically for papers predicting, usually among others, several recovered microlensing phenomena, and papers showing, usually among others, that gamma-ray bursts were consistent with occurring at cosmological distances. He led a group that developed and deployed the first online fisheye night sky monitor, called CONCAMs, deploying later models to most major astronomical observatories. He has published as first author and refereed for every major journal in astronomy and astrophysics. His current research interests include trying to limit attributes of our universe with distant gamma-ray bursts, and investigating the use of relativistic illumination fronts to orient astronomical nebulae.
In 1995, Dr. Nemiroff co-created the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) with main NASA website at http://apod.nasa.gov/. If you are a fan of APOD, please consider joining the Friends of APOD at http://friendsofapod.org/.
In 1999, he co-created the Astrophysics Source Code Library (ASCL) open repository. Housed at MTU and located online at http://ascl.net/, the ASCL now lists over 1000 codes and promotes greater research transparency. ASCL is indexed by ADS, making participating astrophysics codes easier to locate and cite.
Find links to the recording and further resources on this resource page.
Along with Jerry Bonnell, Robert Nemiroff has written, coordinated, and edited NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) since 1995. The APOD archive contains the largest collection of annotated astronomical images on the internet.
Speaker Information
Dr. Robert Nemiroff is a professor of physics at Michigan Tech. He worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland before coming to Michigan Tech. He is perhaps best known scientifically for papers predicting, usually among others, several recovered microlensing phenomena, and papers showing, usually among others, that gamma-ray bursts were consistent with occurring at cosmological distances. He led a group that developed and deployed the first online fisheye night sky monitor, called CONCAMs, deploying later models to most major astronomical observatories. He has published as first author and refereed for every major journal in astronomy and astrophysics. His current research interests include trying to limit attributes of our universe with distant gamma-ray bursts, and investigating the use of relativistic illumination fronts to orient astronomical nebulae.
In 1995, Dr. Nemiroff co-created the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) with main NASA website at http://apod.nasa.gov/. If you are a fan of APOD, please consider joining the Friends of APOD at http://friendsofapod.org/.
In 1999, he co-created the Astrophysics Source Code Library (ASCL) open repository. Housed at MTU and located online at http://ascl.net/, the ASCL now lists over 1000 codes and promotes greater research transparency. ASCL is indexed by ADS, making participating astrophysics codes easier to locate and cite.
Find links to the recording and further resources on this resource page.
All past webinars are also available on the NSN YouTube page.
Last Updated: August 26, 2020
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Night Sky Network (NSN) member clubs are dedicated to bringing the wonders of space and NASA science to folks across the USA.NSN program participation provides clubs with tools and resources to assist in their public outreach.
Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram for the latest NSN news and outreach photos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for recordings of monthly astronomy webinars and archives of our outreach toolkit demonstration videos. #NightSkyNetwork #AstronomyOutreach
Night Sky Network (NSN) member clubs are dedicated to bringing the wonders of space and NASA science to folks across the USA.NSN program participation provides clubs with tools and resources to assist in their public outreach. 
The NASA Night Sky Network is managed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The ASP is a 501c3 non-profit organization advancing science literacy through astronomy.