On the relation between zenith sky brightness and horizontal illuminance

Autor(en)
Miroslav Kocifaj, Thomas Posch, H. A. Solano Lamphar
Abstrakt

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(en)
Institut für Astrophysik
Externe Organisation(en)
Instituto de Investigaciones Lumínicas, Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS)
Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Band
446
Seiten
2895 - 2901
Anzahl der Seiten
7
ISSN
0035-8711
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu2265
Publikationsdatum
01-2015
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
103003 Astronomie, 103004 Astrophysik
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/on-the-relation-between-zenith-sky-brightness-and-horizontal-illuminance(185680e4-2278-4d17-81fb-484e61d547f1).html