Hello Friend,

Light pollution is a serious problem for amateur astronomers
and at some point, you have likely been aware of it.

You might have been trying to observe something, from your backyard,
and there was this annoying  light, interfering with your view.

      I recall several years ago, I was about an hour north of Toronto, visiting
a friend, in Newmarket, and I figured it would be reasonably dark to use
her telescope in the backyard.

       As soon a I opened the porch door, WHAM! right in my eye was this
huge spotlight glaring in my face, from the newly opened Best Buy store.

And this was well after the store was closed!

      Seems everywhere  you go these days, there are glaring lights in parking lots, 
car dealerships,  you name it.

While some of these may be neccessary during business hours, more often than not
lights are left on all night.

Finally, someone want's to do something about it in the city of Vancouver, Canada.

      Her  name is Elizabeth Ball, who is a local councillor.

She wants businesses and individuals to tone down the light pollution at night.

And has put a motion to do exactly that, to her council.

Best of all, she has the support of the city's chief engineer, Friend.

 Credit should also be given to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, who also
do a great deal of work towards light pollution abatement in many towns and cities.

And of course, the Dark Sky Assocation, based in Tucson, Arizona.

Kudos to councillor Ball, a politician who is trying to make a difference.

Clear and dark skies,

Ray Khan

PS Well, the "lights went out" pretty quickly for Seattle in last night's Superbowl game, in just
     the last few minutes of the game. While I was rooting for them to win, the Patriot's won out in the end,
     and the poor loser's Seattle had to end the game on a sour note with a few fist fights. Seriously fellas,
     so unprofessional.