Measuring the Light

Scientists measure all different kinds of pollution, including air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, and plastic pollution. But how do they measure light pollution? When outdoor light fixtures emit light, the light gets scattered into multiple different directions. Some of this light escapes directly into space, some gets reflected off of the atmosphere to create skyglow, and some gets reflected off of the ground and up into space. Two ways that light pollution data can be collected is through satellite imaging and ground-based studies that can be done by anyone.