📘 Table of Contents
🌌 AI Light Pollution Map Article
Read the full article that inspired this glossary: AI Light Pollution Maps Transform Stargazing: Find Perfect Dark Skies in 2025
Light Dome
An area of brightened sky caused by urban lighting that obstructs the view of stars and celestial objects, often visible from great distances.
Bortle Scale
A nine-level numeric scale that quantifies the darkness of the night sky, with Class 1 being the darkest and Class 9 the brightest (inner-city).
VIIRS
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, a satellite sensor that captures high-resolution nighttime light emissions and is key to AI light pollution maps.
Aerosol Optical Depth
A measure of the extinction of solar light by atmospheric particles like dust and pollution, affecting sky clarity and visibility.
Neural Network
A machine learning model inspired by the human brain, used to analyse satellite and environmental data in AI-based stargazing tools.
Atmospheric Transparency
The clarity of the sky, determined by how freely light from stars passes through Earth’s atmosphere without being scattered or absorbed.
Sky Quality Metres (SQM)
Instruments used by astronomers and citizen scientists to measure night sky brightness in magnitudes per square arcsecond.
Clear Sky Index
A metric used in weather forecasting and astronomy that estimates the fraction of the sky that is cloud-free for stargazing.
Light Curfew
Municipal or regional regulations that limit outdoor lighting after a certain time to reduce light pollution and preserve dark skies.
Dark Sky Preserve
A designated area protected from light pollution to promote astronomy, nocturnal wildlife, and natural night-time experiences.
Photopic Luminance
The brightness of light as perceived by the human eye in well-lit conditions, used to measure artificial lighting’s impact on the night sky.
Light Scattering
The diffusion of artificial light by atmospheric particles, which causes the sky to glow and reduces stargazing clarity.
Satellite Imaging
Remote sensing technology that captures light emission data from space, allowing for global mapping of artificial illumination patterns.