LIGHT POLLUTION MAP OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
 

The first light pollution map of Mount Desert Island was created by College of the Atlantic students Nicholas Bacon and Apoorv Gelhot from the Geographic Information Systems Laboratory. Working in collaboration with the Starlit Communities Project, they gathered 160 data points over two moonless nights in April of 2007.

The map documents loss of natural starlight caused by artificial sky glow. This glow covers most of the United States and is the result of exterior lighting that unintentionally shines up into the sky, where it is called "light pollution." The results are plotted using the scale employed by the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness. As hoped, the map documents the existence of nearly pristine dark skies (black) on the western edge of Mount Desert Island. The map also indicates the emergence of very high metropolitan levels of light pollution (red) in the commercial district of Bar Harbor.

Created using equipment purchased with a NASA funded Maine Space Grant Consortium grant to the College of the Atlantic, the map clearly shows the impact from the growth of the Island’s largest towns. Enough data was collected over two “all-nighters” to reveal local influences such as the MDI High School and Town Hill business district. The team’s next goal is to increase the map's resolution with even more data collected by Institute volunteers and school groups. With increased sources of data it is now possible to track seasonal, monthly, and weather-dependent changes. As the number of people on the Island grows every summer, the impact of light pollution is expected to grow measurably worse.

The map complements full-sky measurement by NPS staff in October of 2006 and the IAI inventory completed in 2008.

The mapping project was featured in the Newsletter of the International Dark Sky Association (Issue 68/69).