December 21, 2012 |
When I was a child, I knew real darkness. At my family's cabin on a Minnesota lake, I knew woods so dark that my hands disappeared before my eyes. I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars. But now, when 8 of 10 children born in the United States will never know a sky dark enough for the Milky Way, I worry we are rapidly losing night's natural darkness before realizing its worth. This winter solstice, as we cheer the days' gradual movement back toward light, let us also remember the irreplaceable value of darkness.
December 9, 2012 |
At dusk, when this nighttime town flips on its klieg lights, Rob Lambert and Jim Gianoulakis go looking for darkness. These two graying stargazers want to establish an observatory in one of the most light-polluted places on the planet. For them, it's all about making the best of a bad situation: If the lights of Las Vegas unnaturally brighten the nighttime sky, well, just point your telescope in the other direction. "If you build a facility in a remote area with pristine night skies, you're probably going to be missing the people to come and utilize it," said Gianoulakis, president of the 150-member Las Vegas Astronomical Society, who recently inherited the post from Lambert.
November 16, 2012 |
Stargazers, get psyched: The Leonid meteor shower is expected to peak late Friday night and continue through the weekend. If you can find a clear, dark spot where the starry night sky is visible, you can expect to see as many as 15 to 20 shooting stars per hour. The Leonid meteor shower takes place each November as the Earth passes through a ring of rocky debris left by the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The number of shooting stars we get to see down here is determined by what part of the comet's orbit we pass through on any given year.
July 25, 2012 |
TV sets, laptops, iPads and iPhones are modern society's instruments for increased productivity, social connectedness and entertainment after a long day's work. Ironically, a new study published in Molecular Psychiatry shows that these devices also contribute to an increase of major depressive disorder. The 24-hour society made possible by the advent of the electric light bulb has come at a significant biological cost. Light at night disrupts the body's natural circadian rhythms and has been linked to breast cancer, heart disease and obesity.
August 20, 2011 |
For a quarter of a century, Kim Un-tae has found comfort in the red neon cross that sits atop the steeple of the Protestant church he founded here. For the 70-year-old holy man, the soft glow of the religious icon has always signified that his faith was open for anyone willing to enter the doors of his church. "It's like a coastal lighthouse for passing ships in the dark," Kim said. Yet critics say church crosses like Kim's are just another form of light pollution. Tens of thousands of churches dot South Korea, most with their own red neon crosses.
August 16, 2010
POP MUSIC Fol Chen The cryptic Highland Park-based art-pop group continues its August residency at the Echo, with different special guests each Monday. This week, the San Diego noise-pop band Crocodiles and Light Pollution, psychedelic rockers from Chicago, will share the bill. The Echo, 1822 Sunset Blvd., L.A. 8:30 p.m. Free. (213) 413-8200. http://www.attheecho.com. MOVIES Two by Martin Scorsese Twenty years have passed since the iconic director released his sweeping gangster epic, "GoodFellas," starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci, which chronicles the bloody rise and fall of Henry Hill and his pals within the mob hierarchy.