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Home About Globe at Night

About Globe at Night

The Globe at Night program is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure their night sky brightness and submit their observations from a computer or smart phone. Light pollution threatens not only our “right to starlight”, but can affect energy consumption, wildlife and health. More than 200,000 measurements have been contributed from people in 180 countries over the last 14 years, making Globe at Night the most successful light pollution awareness campaign to date!

Explore the last 16 years of data in our interactive data map, where you can see how your area is doing by inputting your city’s name in the Location Box at the top of the map. Add a radius and tap or click “Search” to see the results. The Globe at Night website is easy to use, comprehensive and holds an abundance of background information. The database is usable for comparisons with a variety of other databases, like how light pollution affects the foraging habits of bats.

Globe at Night 2023

For 2023 we are collecting your observations during all 12 months of the year! See the dates below and plan to get involved.

2022 Results Summary

The Preliminary 2022 Results are in: there were 19,953 data points submitted from 79 countries and 50 US States.

Globe at Night Sponsors

NOIRLab Logo

NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NSF’s NOIRLab) is the preeminent US national center for ground-based, nighttime optical and infrared astronomy. The mission of NOIRLab is to enable breakthrough discoveries in astrophysics by developing and operating state-of-the-art ground-based observatories and providing data products and services for a diverse and inclusive community. NOIRLab is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

CADIAS (Centro de Apoyo a la Didáctica de la Astronomía) is an Astonomy Teaching Support Center located in Altovalsol, La Serena, Chile. It is under the support of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the Municipality of La Serena and the Chilean National Library and Archives Office. CADIAS supports teacher training in astronomy, a pedagogical support library, use of a portable planetarium in schools, star parties for students, astronomy conferences for educators, videoconferences with the U.S. on astronomy for teachers and students, and a program to preserve dark skies.

Ida Logo

IDA (the "International Dark-Sky Association") strives to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through quality outdoor lighting. Through educational materials and programs, IDA raises awareness about light pollution, its adverse effects, and its solutions.

Learn more about IDA by visiting www.darksky.org.

Contact Us

Please contact us for more information about GLOBE at Night at globeatnight@noirlab.edu.