SOS! SAVE OUR SOUTHERN CROSS
Welcome!
Our Year 7 class at Redeemer Baptist School, North Parramatta, NSW, Australia, is conducting a science project on light pollution, which will be entered into the NATA Young Scientists Award 2009. In this International Year of Astronomy, we are trying to raise awareness about the growing problem of light pollution and track just how bad the problem is. If nothing is done soon, our treasured icon, the Southern Cross will be reduced to a 3-star 'Southern Triangle', when viewed from major cities.
We are measuring and mapping light pollution levels in the Sydney region and comparing our results with different locations around the world. Using the magnitude charts for the Southern or Northern Sky that we have produced, we are inviting you to contribute your own light pollution measurements for as many nights as possible until the end of July.
Download and print off a copy of the Southern or Northern Sky Magnitude Charts and then click here to submit a measurement.
!! STOP PRESS !!
The due date for the NATA Young Scientists Award 2009 has arrived. We were required to submit an online 300 word summary of our research project and we are very pleased to announce that we have been selected as National Finalists.
Our next step is to present our project in poster form, from which the winning school will be chosen. The winning school will receive $5000 in science equipment from NATA.
Thank you to everyone who supported us in our project. We collected a massive total of 3555 light pollution measurements, covering 506 Sydney suburbs and hosts of different locations around the world.
The results are graphically represented on our map of Sydney and we encourage you to continue submitting light pollution measurements so we can fill in the missing locations. You can also view our light pollution results for a particular suburb.
Thank you for helping us in our quest to Save our Southern Cross!