Mobile Campaign of Sky Brightness Measurement in Indonesia

Abstract

The bright sky caused by light pollution is a problem for astronomical research. One of the first steps in dealing with the effects of light pollution is to calculate the level of light pollution. Measurement of sky brightness using Sky Quality Meter (SQM) can be done massively through mobile campaign/observations. LAPAN conducted such observations at several places namely Sumatera Barat, Sumedang, Jawa Tengah, Jawa Timur and Kupang by using SQM attached on vehicles. Those campaigns covers 80 to 980 km journey and the total distance traveled was about 2870 km. The obtained data show that the sky brightness above regions surveyed vary from 10 magnitude per arcsec2 (mpsas), especially around Surabaya, Jawa Timur to 22 mpsas. The results then compared radiance map of the Earth surface from Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard Suomi National Polar Orbiting Partnership (NPP). Moderate correlations between in-situ sky brightness data and the radiance map are achieved. Further analyses are required prior to utilization of those relations in the development of Indonesia's sky brightness map which is presumably more accurate than the existing global map of sky brightness.