On the relation between zenith sky brightness and horizontal illuminance
- Author(s)
- Miroslav Kocifaj, Thomas Posch, H. A. Solano Lamphar
- Abstract
The effects of artificial light at night are an emergent research topic for astronomers, physicists, engineers and biologists around the world. This leads to a need for measurements of the night sky brightness (= diffuse luminance of the night sky) and nocturnal illuminance. Currently, the most sensitive light meters measure the zenith sky brightness in magV/arcsec
2 or - less frequently - in cd m
-2. However, the horizontal illuminance resulting only from the night sky is an important source of information that is difficult to obtain with common instruments. Here we present a set of approximations to convert the zenith luminance into horizontal illuminance. Three different approximations are presented for three idealized atmospheric conditions: homogeneous sky brightness, an isotropically scattering atmosphere and a turbid atmosphere. We also apply the resulting conversion formulae to experimental data on night sky luminance, obtained during the past three years.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Astrophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Instituto de Investigaciones Lumínicas, Los Mochis, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS)
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume
- 446
- Pages
- 2895 - 2901
- No. of pages
- 7
- ISSN
- 0035-8711
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu2265
- Publication date
- 01-2015
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/on-the-relation-between-zenith-sky-brightness-and-horizontal-illuminance(185680e4-2278-4d17-81fb-484e61d547f1).html