We present the first World Atlas of the zenith artificial night sky brightness at sea level. Based on radiance calibrated high resolution DMSP satellite data and on accurate modelling of light propagation in the atmosphere, it provides a nearly global picture of how mankind is proceeding to envelope itself in a luminous fog. Comparing the Atlas with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) populatio...

A unique feature of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Sounder over the polar orbiting sounders is that it observes the atmosphere and the surface on an hourly basis with a nominal spatial resolution of 10 km. The temporally and spatially dense observations are of great importance for improving short-term weather forecasting or nowcasting. To further demonstrate how th...

A total lunar eclipse is conjectured to have influence on the physical conditions of an environmental area, particularly on the brightness of the sky. The phenomenon might also be relevant on weather parameters change on Earth, such as temperature, humidity and pressure, though a straightforward correlation is not easy to establish. This work mainly aims at measuring the brightness of the sky a...

The performance of natural guide star adaptive-optics systems for telescopes located on the Antarctic plateau is evaluated and compared with adaptive-optics systems operated with the characteristic midlatitude atmosphere found at Mauna Kea. A 2-m telescope with tip–tilt correction and an 8-m telescope equipped with a high-order adaptive-optics system are considered. Because of the large isoplan...

The scientific discoveries made by H.E.S.S. during its first year of operation encourage a reexamination of the open problems in high energy astrophysics and of the capabilities of the atmospheric Cherenkov technique, which could be employed to address them. We report on an initial Monte Carlo exploration of a ground-based instrument for observing cosmologically distant high energy transient ph...

A new polarization survey of the northern sky at 1.41 GHz is presented. The observations were carried out using the 25.6 m telescope at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Canada, with an angular resolution of 36. The data are corrected for ground radiation to obtain Stokes U and Q maps on a well-established intensity scale tied to absolute determinations of zero levels, containing ...

The diurnal cycle of light and dark is one of the strongest environmental factors for life on Earth. Many species in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems use the level of ambient light to regulate their metabolism, growth, and behavior. The sky glow caused by artificial lighting from urban areas disrupts this natural cycle, and has been shown to impact the behavior of organisms, even many ki...