This work is partly supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Transcription

1 Nobuaki OCHI Yonago National College of Technology, Japan IDA Education Committee and the GaN team This work is partly supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. IDA Annual General Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY 04/16/2011 Teaching physics to high-school students. NOT a representative of IDA Japan: I ve been doing dark-sky activities personally and locally. Since last September, a member of IDA Education Committee. Promoted the GLOBE at Night campaign in Japan as my first nation-wide challenge. 1

2 Taking up light pollution (LP) in physics course for energy and environmental (E&E) education Mapping night-time brightness of our city by science club students GLOBE at Night campaign and its promotion and results in Japan Recognizable almost anywhere in Japan Easily understandable why it is relevant to energy waste and ecological destruction Cinzano et al., MNRAS(2001) Easy to take actions against it Because it is relevant to saving energy and money, people will continue the actions. 2

3 It is hoped that people start to rethink their heavily consuming lifestyle. It is hoped that people recognize the beauties of space and nature anew. Photo of a starry sky Light pollution can be taught in connection with many areas in science course (energy, light, wave, electricity, ecosystem, star etc.) 3

4 At the end of the high-school-level physics course (11th-grade student) Three 50-minutes classes (within 1 week) 1) lecture about global warming and energy crisis 2) lecture about light pollution (and homework) 3) making illuminance map of our city and discussion As homework, each student brings a luxmeter home and measures illuminance of our city at various points, to recognize that light pollution is ubiquitous. a sleepless billboard a golf practice range Many students looked shocked by these energy and environmental destruction. 4

5 good lighting bad lighting Measure illuminance at various points near your home and record it. Handheld luxmeter time: between 19:00-21:00 (in winter) horizontal illuminance (sensor upward) don t measure if rain/snow don t measure in the street more than three measurements >100m apart 5

6 They put sticky labels on map in color depending on the illuminance they had measured. The resultant map (by 47 students) clearly showed bright in densely populated area and dark in sparse area. They put sticky labels on map in color depending on the illuminance they had measured. The resultant map (by 47 students) clearly showed bright in densely populated area and dark in sparse area. 6

7 (1/3) (before-program) Q. Are you interested in E&E issues? (After-program) Q. How changed your interest in E&E issues? Not changed 0% Neutral 19% Rather NO 15% Greatly Strongly YES 23% Rather YES 43% Rather increased 72% increased 28% Yes 66% Increased 100% (Before-program) Q. Do you think that our modern lifestyle is consuming too much energy? No 2% (After-program) Q. (the same question) Neutral 2% No idea 2% (2/3) Neutral 8% Rather YES 30% Strongly YES 60% Rather YES 24% Strongly YES 72% Strongly YES 60% 72% YES 90% 96% 7

8 Q. How do you evaluate the program, in which you experienced the measurement by luxmeter? (3/3) Q. How was the lecture of light pollution? Neutral 8% Rather good 60% Very good 32% Rather interesting 52% Not interesting 4% Very interesting 44% Good 92% Interesting 96% Q. Write what you thought about the program. (1/2) (About experience of luxmeter, illuminance map) I realized that some of outdoor lighting near my house is unnecessary and energy waste. I was surprised by the large difference of illuminance values between bright and dark areas. My town still has a starry sky. I had paid no regard to outdoor lighting. We should think carefully about where to light, and remove unnecessary light from nocturnal environment. 8

9 Q. Write what you thought about the program. (2/2) (About light pollution) Japan is using much light, so we should take the initiative in acting against light pollution. It is important that we will make the term light pollution generally known. Throughout the program, it was so impressive that the students listened intently to the lectures, thought deeply about LP and left their opinions a lot on the questionnaire. I m preparing a similar program for elementary students. 9

10 To make a local map of city brightness and show it to local people for raising awareness of LP Handheld luxmeter Low cost ($150 per unit), quick (many data points), easy (kids can participate) The students were enthusiastic and looked enjoying. Night-time illuminance map measured by luxmeter at 2,044 points in and around Yonago city Feb./Mar & 2009, by 8 students+1 Our school (rural area) 5km Railroad station (central area) 10

11 Extracted median values within each 200m-grid and colored by them. This is a map of city brightness. BLACK - no light sources nearby YELLOW - bright light sources within acceptance of luxmeter. Simple way to make local map of city brightness and show it to local people for raising awareness of LP 11

12 GLOBE at Night Light pollution awareness campaign led by Connie Walker (NOAO) GLOBE at Night Sponsoring Institutions the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, AZ; The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, in Boulder, CO; the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) in Redlands, CA; the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) in Tucson, AZ; and the Centro de Apoyo a la Didactica de la Astronomia (CADIAS) in Altovalsol, Chile. Other partners include the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the American Astronomical Society, the Astronomical League, Astronomers Without Borders, The World At Night, and Let There Be Night,org. GLOBE at Night Citizen-scientists record the brightness of the night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion, Leo and Crux with star maps of progressively fainter stars. Measurements are submitted on-line and resulting maps of all worldwide observations are created. Over the last 5 annual two-week GLOBE at Night campaigns, 52,000 measurements have been contributed from over 100 countries. 12

13 GLOBE at Night Website 5 step citizen science program simple to participate Background information on key concepts Interactive games Fun quizzes to check proficiency Teacher and Family Guides in 14 different languages Postcards, flyers en español también! Report page webapp for smart phones Map page with data in various formats 25 GLOBE at Night Campaign Star maps Match Your Night Sky to a Magnitude Chart. Fill out the observation sheet. 13

14 GLOBE at Night Campaign 2011 February 21 to March 6 for both Northern and Southern Hemispheres Uses Orion. March 22 to April 4 for NH Uses Leo. March 24 to April 6 for SH Uses Leo or Crux. The results will be announced end of April. The number of reports decreased from GaN2010: only 18 reports from Japan. English websites and the report form might be obstacles for Japanese people. I built Japanese websites and an activity packet. Based on the English site, but simple and some modifications for Japanese. 14

15 Japanese leaflets were sent to 60 institutions (observatories, planetariums, science museums) all over Japan. (4000 sheets in total) Several GaN star parties took place by amateur astronomical groups. On my request, a famous astronomical magazine put GaN on its website. (most effective) On my request, a local TV station broadcast a short program about LP and GaN. The campaign has spread also in twitter and astronomical mailing lists. The number of reports from Japan was about 290, 18 times larger than that of GaN2010. From 30 prefectures out of 47. The resultant map: Yellow - brightest sky Dark brown - darkest sky 15

16 Star charts reported from Japan Chart7-1% Chart3-41% Chart4-34% Map of Tokyo and surroundings Restricted to Chart5,6,7 16

17 Map of Osaka and surroundings Restricted to Chart5,6,7 Comments from reporters This campaign gave me a rare chance to see stars. I m thankful for it. In my city the sky was brighter than my expectation. Some streetlights are unnecessary and should be switched off. I think the most important thing in this kind of campaign is to take place every year. I expect it. The campaign was successful in Japan this year. I want to expand it next year, for raising LP awareness in Japan. 17

18 Hotel Supermarket Amusement facility Golf practice range Driving school Gas station Bookstore Supermarket Department store Large retailers, Amusement facilities Gas stations Ballpark Supermarket Center of Yonago city Airport Runway Sports park 18

19 Power failed for a few days in the damaged area. NOAA released photos of Japan before and after the earthquake average March 12, It was a rare opportunity for them to see beautiful night sky. Hundreds of tweets about the night sky during the power failure can be found in twitter. (These photos are from the Los Angels quake.) 19

20 To cut electricity consumption, a lot of lights have been switched off. Normal brightness as a railway station? Photo of a railway station This is a photo of a greatly-dimmed station. To cut electricity consumption, a lot of lights have been switched off. Too bright station? Photo of a bright station This is also a photo of a dimmed station, because the signboards are switched off. 20

21 To cut electricity consumption, a lot of lights have been switched off. Normal brightness of a station in Japan. People use much lights Photo of a very bright station even if nobody is there. Switched off at many places: stations, stores, public facilities, schools, streets, highways etc. According to the result of a questionnaire released last week, 88% answered that the current level of lighting is OK or we should cut more. This situation can be a chance to change public consciousness on lighting? 21

22 I have just started another LP awareness campaign! Switched off at many places: stations, stores, public facilities, schools, streets, highways etc. According to the result of a questionnaire released last week, 88% answered that the current level of lighting is OK or we should cut more. This situation can be a chance to change public consciousness on lighting? We Japanese appreciate all the support and pray from people around the world. Thank you very much. 22