Teaching light pollution through citizen science

Citizen science engage students in meaningful science research that addresses real world issues and leads to scientific advancement.  We would like to invite school students to contribute to one particular project. We intend to generate awareness about the problem of light pollution in general, and the consequences of the global switch out of the older…

Clean room

Brand-new ISO7 clean room at LICA

These days has finished the installation of a brand-new ISO7 clean room at our LICA laboratory. The new facility will allow the manipulation and characterization of high-tech devices that need such level of cleaning. Specifically, LICA is now fully qualified for the work with scientific-level detectors, optical components, and complex instrumental setups. The LICA clean…

Evidence light pollution can be measured directly from space

Light pollution was believed could only be measured with photometers from the ground, but a new research published in Scientific Reports (Nature group) has proven that it is also detectable from space. Satellites detect diffused light in unlighted areas outside cities. Until now these detections were attributed to an instrumental effect but the study shows that this…

Citizen Science on Lockdown

As millions across the globe are having to self-isolate to prevent the spread of coronavirus astronomical observation activities are reduced to those we can carry out from our home with instrumentation we happen to have with us.  The lockdown is an exceptional opportunity to measure the effects of the decrease in human activity on the…

Street Spectra presented at Sociedad Española de Astronomía

The III Congreso ProAm de la Sociedad Española de Astronomía was a meeting point between the community of professional astronomers and the very active community of astronomy enthusiasts in Spain.Our researchers have attended this conference in order to present Street Spectra with a poster describing the motivation being the change in technology lighting is suffering around the…

New Street Spectra website

The ActiON pilot project Street Spectra has recently set up an ad hoc new website that serves as a resource for information related to the project. https://streetspectra.actionproject.eu  Explore the website and browse through all the new interesting materials! The home screen offers links to the epicollect5 app from both the Apple store and Google play.…

Cities at Night – Educational Unit

This didactic unit on the Cities at Night citizen science project aims to generate social awareness about the problem of light pollution, bring scientific research closer to schools and of course encourage young people to participate in the project. This teaching material will allow you to work in the classroom with high school students with…