Determining the effect of light pollution on limiting magnitude in specific Luzon regions
Abstract
In this study, we determine the effect of light pollution on stellar limiting magnitude through statistical analysis. Artificial light being reflected and scattered upward into the night sky causes skyglow, which affects the visibility of night sky objects. We aim to help solve the problem of light pollution by further understanding its effects and providing more data for future research and observations. We conducted observations in five areas in Luzon. We took images of the night sky, which were then binarized and processed to obtain limiting magnitude readings. The Spearman rank correlation test between limiting magnitude and sky quality showed a significant positive correlation (p<0.05), showing that light pollution does have a negative impact on object visibility. We also obtained logarithmic and polynomial equations approximating the trend, with R2 values of 0.8502 and 0.9145, respectively.
