Light Pollution

So, I've noticed lately, that there seems to be an ever-increasing amount of light pollution over Saskatoon. This is especially evident in the Stonegate area where all the new businesses are. They seem to be using a lot of white lights instead of amber ones, thus making for a really bright glow above that area. I think the city should be making a committment to decrease the amount of light pollution by changing to more energy efficient lights, ensuring they are pointing down better than the current ones, and so on.

I'm not sure the exact source for the following photo. I believe that NASA has done these types of satellite images and National Geographic has done stories on this topic as well. The planet is under seige from an increasing amount of light pollution. It definitely makes observing the stars more difficult.

Comet passing by Earth

So, I stumbled upon this story on the National Geographic website in the Daily News section and thought I'd post it. It is really neat. There is a comet called Lulin that is visible moving westward from the constellation Libra to Virgo.

Amateur astronomer Gregg Ruppel captured the image below of Comet Lulin on January 15, 2009, which shows the comet's faint tail and rare anti-tail—a slim "second tail" that seems to point toward the sun but is actually an optical effect.

Comet Lulin will make its closest approach to Earth on February 24, and while it will probably be hard to see with the naked eye, astronomers think the "fresh" new comet has the potential to brighten rapidly.

Here is a link to the story on National Geographic -

Comet Lulin on National Geographic