Night sky brightness of the Maltese archipelago

Abstract

The widespread use of artificial lighting has revolutionised the way we live and has found its usefulness in recreational activity, industry and accessibility. However, excessive and inappropriate use of night lighting causes light pollution, in the forms of artificial sky glow and light trespass, amongst others. Several studies have shown that light pollution has a number of effects on human health and also disrupts ecological processes of fauna and flora. It also significantly hinders observational astronomy, as celestial bodies become less detectable due to a bright night sky. This project consisted of measuring night sky brightness on the island of Malta and obtaining a number of light pollution maps by processing these measurements. Furthermore, an area which was relatively brighter was investigated by taking a higher density data sample. In this study, it was found that artificial night sky brightness is worryingly elevated, especially in urbanised towns and cities and the Milky Way is only observable from 1.63 of the the area of Malta.