Comments 1 to 17:

1. Paul D at 22:23 PM on 15 November, 2011
   Really good.
   Are the lights of the cities enhanced??
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2. Alexandre at 23:17 PM on 15 November, 2011
   Beautiful.
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3. chriskoz at 23:27 PM on 15 November, 2011
   How about a yellowish glare over the athmosfere ever-present on all images, even without auroras? I guess itr could be the mesopause, as auroras seem to apear above it and ISS flies at some 350km.
   
   So is this yellowish a "true colour" of mesopause or some artificial enhancement? Perhaps it is an enhancement, maybe an invisible spectrum, pickedup by hisense camera. With that in mind, brighter/broader lights might be a result of the same.
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4. Paul D at 04:57 AM on 16 November, 2011
   The youtube blurb states they used a low light camera and did some processing on images.
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5. arch stanton at 05:15 AM on 16 November, 2011
   We sure use a lot of energy lighting up space don’t we?
   
   Fantastic clip, thank you John.
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6. steve from virginia at 08:33 AM on 16 November, 2011
   Hmmmm ....
   
   Atmosphere, mighty skimpy. Better take care of it. Looks like a long way to other dots up there ...
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7. martin porter at 08:34 AM on 16 November, 2011
   This fantastic video shows just how much of our energy we are wasting! All the pretty lights, especially noticable in places like California, are just what astronomers call light polution. Think of how much energy AND money could be saved if we only lit up things to the extent we actually need!
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8. skywatcher at 09:47 AM on 16 November, 2011
   There's quite a few more of these kinds of time-lapse movies from the ISS at a NASA page here. Lovely!
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9. Eric (skeptic) at 11:24 AM on 16 November, 2011
   Are there alternatives to street lights and parking lots lights for safety? (assuming that most of that light is bouncing off the ground)
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10. Bern at 11:39 AM on 16 November, 2011
    Eric(skeptic): no, most of that light is coming directly from the lights themselves - comparatively little bounces off the ground, especially roads & parking lots that are (usually) almost-black asphalt.
    
    Different light fittings, that direct the light a bit better, can actually result in higher illumination levels on the ground, while also significantly reducing the amount of light going upwards.
    
    The same applies to many buildings & dwellings - many, many light fittings are very poorly designed, and actually result in most of the emitted light not ending up where it's needed. But they're oh-so-fashionable... (I was astounded, in the time I lived in the US, to find a room in my apartment with no less than three 200-watt light globes, which nevertheless appeared dimly lit to my eyes, compared to what I achieve with a single 60w globe here in Australia)
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11. skywatcher at 11:41 AM on 16 November, 2011
    #9 Eric, you might find a lot of information at the International Dark Sky Association. They specifically do not advocate against lighting for safety. Most of the light you see in images like the ones above come directly from the lighting source. That is, it is light from fixtures designed to light the ground (the street, parking lot, whatever), but that have a significant proportion of their energy uselessly pointing sideways or upwards. You can effectively put a lower wattage bulb in each light if you have a simple shield to prevent light being wasted upwards, and that shield reflects the extra light downwards to where it is wanted, not sideways or upwards. The IDA suggest that 8% of US energy use is in outdoor lighting, so the saving may be measurable in numbers of power stations. Obviously as an astronomer that would have really good consequences, but the saving in energy is also considerable, with no loss in safety.
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12. Eric (skeptic) at 11:49 AM on 16 November, 2011
    Bern and skywatcher, thanks for the info (skywatcher now I know where your name comes from). I am lucky enough to live in a dark county in Virginia. Another question, looking the time lapse there seemed to brightness at an angle (although lights got brighter as they got closer). Are we seeing lights from windows at that angle? I suppose it could also be a fish eye lens effect and we are mostly looking straight down.
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13. skywatcher at 12:01 PM on 16 November, 2011
    Not sure about your other question Eric, though angles from an orbiting satellite can be deceptive - you're seeing a relatively tiny fraction of the Earth's surface, but the eye is fooled by the circular horizon into thinking you're seeing a whole hemisphere. My guess is that it is not windows (the orange colour is often telltale of low pressure sodium and its twin bright orange emission lines), and that it is an effect of looking hundreds of miles sideways through the atmosphere? The camera view doesn't otherwise look very 'fisheye' to me too.
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14. kampmannpeine at 20:26 PM on 16 November, 2011
    gorgeous ... Auroras, Lightnings ... I am impressed
    
    well made
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15. skywatcher at 16:58 PM on 21 November, 2011
    This video just made Astronomy Picture of the Day for 21st November. APOD's a good place to be stunned by great astonomy images and waste large chunks of your day!
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16. Stu at 21:36 PM on 25 November, 2011
    @chriskoz #3,
    
    You're seeing 'airglow'.
    
    http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2009/02/25/is-there-true-darkness/
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17. Eric (skeptic) at 12:05 PM on 28 November, 2011
    Skywatcher, you are probably correct about the orange glow being the sodium vapor lights.
    I figured I would pop this related question here (but not expecting an answer). My county requires sodium vapor lights (high or low pressure) for commercial sites due to our dark sky ordinance. I can only find 120 volt AC ballasts for HPS or LPS lights. Various Chinese companies have nice electronic (digital) 12/24 volt DC ballasts specifically for solar streetlights and similar uses. It doesn't make sense to use two inverters (from 12 DC to 120 AC and then from 120 AC to the various HPS/LPS voltages). I need around 35 Watts, and a couple of units.
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