Nevada skies brighter nights series#

In 2018 Solar Cycle 24 entered into this phase and since then a series of photometers, TESS, situated around the world, have collected 11 million measurements which have been used to define a method of reference for the study of natural darkness with equipment of this kind. When these events are much reduced we call this solar minimum. We refer to solar maximum when the activity of the Sun has grown, sunspots appear on its surface, and its radiative emission has grown, which affects the molecules in the Earth's atmosphere, causing an increase in the brightness of the night sky. Solar Cycles are ordered in periods of activity lasting 11 years. Even though the main bright sources such as the Moon, the Milky Way, and the Zodiacal light are easily recognizable, there is a glow which dominates the sky brightness on the darkest nights, produced in the upper layers of the atmosphere, and whose strength depends on a set of complex factors such as the time of year, the geographical location, and the solar cycle. The night sky is not completely dark even in the remotest places there is a glow in the sky produced by natural components, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial, and by artificial lighting of human origin. Of the 44 photometers in the survey, the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (GarafГa, La Palma, Canary Islands) stands out at the darkest of all the skies analyzed.

Nevada skies brighter nights