Tag Archives: buiometria partecipativa

The pibinko.org network, buiometria, and participatory lithology @ Radio Popolare Milano (March 26, 2020)

In the media, national,

This was a long talk with Disma Pestalozza and Alessandro Diegoli, providing breaking news on Participatory Lithology, but also going into various flashbacks related to the pibinko.org network. These included “The Revenge of the Killer Chihuahua and of the Zombies” (2006), the ancient game of palla 21, buiometria partecipativa (participatory night sky quality monitoring), Aunt Eda’s yummy recipees, insight on Tatti, Southern Tuscsany, and how the COVID-19 lockdown is lived in lesser-known rural areas..all these stories are documented on the sito pibinko.org. You may consider using this page as an entry point.

For more information: info@pibinko.org

Oct. 18, 2019: BuioMetria Partecipativa in Grosseto, Tuscany, at the AMBITA Forum

Announcements, More details on...,

The next event for BuioMetria Partecipativa will be on Friday, Oct. 18, from 2 to 3PM (@ FIDIA, villino Pastorelli, via Fallaci). This will be in the context of AMBITA, the forum on Italian Built Environment.

We will speak of the impact of artificial lighting on various aspects of society and nature, and of how simple practice can lead to significantly reduce light pollution without compromising the quality of our lives.

For more information

BuioMetria Partecipativa receives the “Dark Sky Defender” award by the International Dark Sky Association

Announcements

Andrea Giacomelli, promoter of the BuioMetria Partecipativa project obtained the 2019 “Dark Sky Defender” award by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), the main organization worldwide committed to protection and promotion of the night sky.

This award is assigned to individuals or organizations in recognition of their exceptional efforts to promote and advance the mission and programs of IDA by promoting quality outdoor lighting to reduce light pollution and its environmental impacts.

Here is the motivation by IDA: For over ten years, Andrea Giacomelli has led the “BuioMetria Partecipativa” (Participatory Night Sky Quality Monitoring) project in Italy. The BuioMetria Partecipativa project has demonstrated a progressive approach, engaging not only “typical” subjects such as public administrations, utilities, or park managers, but triggering community-based activities, collaborations with artists, bartenders, and other segments of society who “thought they had nothing to do with light pollution”. Giacomelli organized more than 100 education and public outreach events.

The winners of the various IDA Award categories have been announced yesterday (Sep. 30) online, and the awards will be assigned on Nov. 8 in Tucson, Arizona, during the next IDA General Assembly.

Source: IDA

Thursday, July 25, 2019: The Night Sky, from the Hungarian Puszta to the Hills of Maremma (Terme Marine Leopoldo II, Marina di Grosseto, Tuscany)

Announcements

Thursday, July 25, at the Terme Marine Leopoldo II hotel in Marina di Grosseto (Tuscany) from 6.30PM to 8PM there will be a presentation of the mission by Zoltán Kolláth, astrophysics professor at the Savaria University Centre, Eötvös Loránd University, Szombathely, Hungary.

The professor, who is one of the leading authorities in the field of light pollution studies will be in Italy in the context of a collaboration with the BuioMetria Partecipativa, and will be visiting Southern Tuscany after four years (in 2015 he was part of a research team for a measurement campaign in the Farma Valley.

In the July 25 event you will have a chance to know more about the measurement activities which will be conducted in the following nights in various parts of Southern Tuscany -which in Italy is one of the few areas where a good night sky quality remains- and to understand how this characteristic, in addition to being an element of wonder, may become a territorial asset.

Citizens, businesses and public administrators can come to hear about professor Kollath’s experiences. In fifteen years, in Hungary he has been developing a whole sector of activity, spanning from scientific research, to environmental education, to dark sky park management, to actual lighting system renovation in order to procure lights which can couple energy efficiency and a strong compliance to state-of-the-art guidelines to minimize light pollution.

Last but not least, should you be interested in collaborating with the BuioMetria Partecipativa project, you will have a chance to know about the citizen science activities that this project is promoting since 2008, and through which you too can have an active role in the coming months.

For more details on the 2019 “buiometric” campaign, also see this post.

For more information, or to confirm your attendance, please write to bmp@pibinko.org or call +393317539228

Tue. Jul. 30, 2019: lecture on Atmospheric scattering and the view of the night sky by Zoltán Kolláth at Fondazione E. Mach, S. Michele all’Adige (Italy)

Announcements

The lecture will be a 2.30 PM

Measuring the quality of the night sky is necessary to assess light pollution and to evaluate its trends. These derive from a combination of existing and new lighting installations, and the applications of mitigation actions to reduce the amount of luminous flux escaping the primary areas where lighting is needed (and thus generating glare and skyglow), and containing increasing levels of blue light due to the diffusion of new generation lighting. Such measures are especially important in relation to protected areas, where night sky quality measurements by digital cameras have become a routine procedure. However, these observations lack the wavelength dependence of sky radiance; therefore, we have started a spectral sky quality survey parallel with the all-sky radiance measurements. To interpret the measurements, we also performed Monte Carlo simulations with the dominant light sources in the neighborhood of the measurement locations. We studied the effect of the tendencies of different atmospheric conditions for some reference cases with typical cloud and aerosol profiles.  The structure of the aerosol layers has a significant impact on the night sky radiance distribution, and it is neglected in most of the recent light pollution modelling. I will present our first results obtained at the Zselic Starry Sky Park, in the context of a now fifteen-year-old program for the protection and promotion of the night sky in various nature reserves in Hungary.

The visit to Fondazione Mach is part of a tour in Italy with the BuioMetria Partecipativa project, active since 2008 in the interdisciplinary protection and promotion of the night sky.

Zoltán Kolláth, professor of astrophysics at the Savaria University Center, Eötvös Loránd University, Szombathely, Hungary between 24 and 29 July. Prof. Kolláth is one of the highest international authorities in the field of light pollution studies, as well as in the promotion of the night sky as a resource. He was the creator of one of the first international star parks in Europe, the Zselic landscape protection area, and has for many years been a driving force in protecting night skies in Hungary, with the recognition of three parks certified by the International Dark Sky Association.

At the moment, the professor is responsible for a large national project for the development of scientific research on all aspects of light pollution, including the creation of new sustainable lighting systems. As an astrophysicist, he deals with the dynamics of pulsating stars. He is also very active in the dissemination in this sector, for example taking care of the soundtrack of astronomical signals that have been used in exhibitions and musical compositions, including a piece by John Legend.