Measurement of light pollution in PAGASA Astronomical Observatory before and after the 2020 Taal phreatic eruption through luminance

Authors

Ronah Ceniza Rollan ⋅ PH Department of Physical Sciences, Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Rosenel Dahipon ⋅ PH Department of Physical Sciences, Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Alleah Garzon ⋅ PH Department of Physical Sciences, Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Abstract

Light pollution causes inability to clearly observe astronomical bodies at night due to anthropogenic light sources especially in urban areas. Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) Observatory is an astronomical observatory situated in the light polluted city of Metro Manila. Light pollution was quantified in the said observatory before and after the Taal volcano phreatic eruption, situated approximately 109 kilometers from PAGASA Observatory, through luminance using a Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera. The magnitude of the light pollution before and after the said eruption was 16.63 and 17.22 mag/arsec², respectively, an increase of 3.50%. Furthermore, it showed that the night sky in PAGASA Observatory is under "City Scale – Level 8" according to Bortle Dark Sky Scale.

Downloads

Issue

2020: Proceedings of the 38th Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas Physics Conference

Shedding light on the pandemic through the lens of physics
Pagtanglaw sa pandemya sa lente ng pisika
19-23 October 2020

This is the first fully online SPP Physics Conference. Please visit the SPP2020 activity webpage for more information on this year's Physics Congress.

Article ID

SPP-2020-2D-01

Section

Environmental Physics (Short Presentations)

Published

2020-10-19

How to Cite

[1]

RC Rollan, R Dahipon, and A Garzon, Measurement of light pollution in PAGASA Astronomical Observatory before and after the 2020 Taal phreatic eruption through luminance, Proceedings of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas 38, SPP-2020-2D-01 (2020). URL: https://proceedings.spp-online.org/article/view/SPP-2020-2D-01.