Globe at Night holds an abundance of background information, such as helpful resources and tools from finding the constellations used in the campaign, to understanding concepts like light pollution, to games that test your expertise in choosing the faintest star visible (e.g., the “limiting magnitude”). “Dark Skies Rangers” activities used in grades 4-14 provide a foundational basis for and extensions to the Globe at Night campaign. You can also explore the last 8 years of data with our interactive map. Or use our “map app” to see how your city or any area in the world did this year or how it has changed over time. Or you can compare Globe at Night data with a variety of other databases, to see, for example, how light pollution affects the foraging habits of bats.
Since its inception in 2006, about 105,000 measurements from 115 countries have been reported. For 2014 the Globe at Night campaign is offered each month of the year. Since the Moon is a natural light bulb in the night sky we would like to avoid, the 10-day observation window each month has been chosen so the Moon will not be up at least an hour after sunset to about 10pm. The remaining campaign dates are: March 21-30, April 20-29, May 19-28, June 17-26, July 16-25, August 15-24, September 15-24, October 14-23, November 12-21 and December 11-20. …We look forward to your joining the campaign and/or playing with the data. Enjoy!
If you are super keen, you could consider coordinating an Adopt-A-Street program in your area during the Globe at Night campaign. The aim of the Adopt-A-Street program is for people to adopt a different major or semi-major street and take measurements every mile or so for the length of the street (or for as long as they can). The grid of measurements will canvas the town, allowing for research later in comparison to wildlife, health, energy consumption and cost, among other things.
For more information and details on how to participate, visit Globe at Night.
Follow the Dark Skies Awareness blog and check out these Dark Sky Rangers Resources.
Share your experience with the world on Facebook or the Flickr group and Tweet using #GAM2014. Follow @gam_awb and @GlobeAtNight.
