Light pollution of the environment

Svjetlosno onečišćenje je svaka promjena razine prirodne svjetlosti u noćnim uvjetima. Ono je uzrokovano emisijama iz umjetnih izvora svjetlosti. Sve ono što nepotrebno isijava prema nebu ili u stranu, a ne prema tlu, zagađuje okolinu i nebo viškom svjetlosti. Takvo onečišćenje šteti ljudima, životinjama, okolišu ali i ekonomiji. Istraživanja su pokazala da kada ne spavamo u potpuno zamračenom prostoru, naše tijelo ne luči dovoljno hormon melatonin koji je bitan za naš imunološki sustav i borbu protiv stresa. S ciljem određivanja svjetlosnog onečišćenja, napravljena su mjerenja na devet lokacija u tri županije, kako bi se odredila kvaliteta neba te svjetlosni utjecaji gradova, reklamnih ekrana i krajobraznog osvjetljenja na noćno nebo. Najveće izmjereno svjetlosno onečišćenje bilo je uz reklamni ekran u Stubičkim Toplicama (10,62 mag/arcsec2), dok je najmanje izmjereno bilo na lokaciji dvorca Trakošćan (19,45 mag/arcsec2). Kako bi se smanjilo svjetlosno onečišćenje neophodno je educirati javnost o negativnim učincima na živi svijet te o razumnom korištenju svjetlosne energije.Light pollution is any change in the level of natural light in nighttime conditions. It is caused by emissions from artificial light sources. Everything that radiates unnecessarily towards the sky or to the side, and not towards the ground, pollutes the environment and the sky with excess light. Such pollution is harmful for people, animals, environment and negatively effects economy. Research has shown that during the sleep people need complete darkness, otherwise our body does not secrete enough of the hormone called melatonin, which is essential for our immune system and for the fight against stress. To determine light pollution, measurements were made at nine different locations in three counties, in order to classify the quality of the sky and the effects of cities, advertising screens and landscape lighting on the night sky. The highest level of measured light pollution was near the advertisement screen in Stubičke Toplice (10,62 mag/arcsec2), while the lowest was at the Trakošćan castle (19,45 mag/arcsec2). To lower the light pollution, public education about negative effect on the living world and reasonable usage of light energy is necessary