Measuring Light Pollution with a Calibrated High Dynamic Range All-Sky Image Acquisition System

Georg Zotti
Measuring Light Pollution with a Calibrated High Dynamic Range All-Sky Image Acquisition System
In DARKSKY2007 - 7th European Symposium for the Protection of the Night Sky. October 2007.

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Abstract
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Information

Publication Type: Conference Paper
Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
- Skydome
Date: October 2007
Address: Bled
Booktitle: DARKSKY2007 - 7th European Symposium for the Protection of the Night Sky
Date (from): 5. October 2007
Date (to): 6. October 2007
Editor: Andrej Mohar
Lecturer: Georg Zotti
Location: Bled
Keywords: HDR imaging, Light Pollution, Skylight

Abstract

Combining series of exposures with different exposure times made with a digital SLR camera and a ﬁsh-eye lens allow to create high-resolution images that contain the full dynamic range of daylight, including the Sun, usable as scene background and for skylight illumination computation purposes. These High Dynamic Range (HDR) images can also be calibrated with a luminance meter, so the image data contain meaningful values, and the system becomes a measuring device. At night, long-time exposures can be combined, and the setup, once ﬁne-calibrated with a Sky Quality Meter or another low-level light measuring device, becomes a valuable tool to provide absolute values of sky brightness. Using data from the astronomical literature, false-colour plots of sky luminance can be created that closely match visual estimation of visible stellar magnitudes.

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BibTeX

@inproceedings{zotti-2007-hdr,
  title =      "Measuring Light Pollution with a Calibrated High Dynamic
               Range All-Sky Image Acquisition System",
  author =     "Georg Zotti",
  year =       "2007",
  abstract =   "Combining series of exposures with different exposure times
               made with a digital SLR camera and a ﬁsh-eye lens allow to
               create high-resolution images that contain the full dynamic
               range of daylight, including the Sun, usable as scene
               background and for skylight illumination computation
               purposes. These High Dynamic Range (HDR) images can also be
               calibrated with a luminance meter, so the image data contain
               meaningful values, and the system becomes a measuring
               device. At night, long-time exposures can be combined, and
               the setup, once ﬁne-calibrated with a Sky Quality Meter or
               another low-level light measuring device, becomes a valuable
               tool to provide absolute values of sky brightness. Using
               data from the astronomical literature, false-colour plots of
               sky luminance can be created that closely match visual
               estimation of visible stellar magnitudes.",
  month =      oct,
  address =    "Bled",
  booktitle =  "DARKSKY2007 - 7th European Symposium for the Protection of
               the Night Sky",
  editor =     "Andrej Mohar",
  location =   "Bled",
  keywords =   "HDR imaging, Light Pollution, Skylight",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2007/zotti-2007-hdr/",
}