Night sky quality monitoring in existing and planned dark sky parks by digital cameras

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method for using digital cameras to objectively measure night sky luminance in dark sky parks, enabling consistent sky quality assessments across locations.

Contribution

It presents a novel processing technique for raw digital camera images to accurately calibrate and measure sky quality in dark sky parks.

Findings

Successful comparison of sky quality across European locations

Demonstration of the camera-based measurement method's effectiveness

Potential for widespread application in dark sky monitoring

Abstract

A crucial part of the qualification of international dark sky places (IDSPs) is the objective measurement of night time sky luminance or radiance. Modern digital cameras provide an alternative way to perform all sky imaging either by a fisheye lens or by a mosaic image taken by a wide angle lens. Here we present a method for processing raw camera images to obtain calibrated measurements of sky quality. The comparison of the night sky quality of different European locations is also presented to demonstrate the use of our technique.