The UK and France at night

[idun]

I do so hope that this photo will show up, as I find it fascinating.

It shows population density and why so much of France is

'rural' and explains property prices too.

[betise]

Thanks TU, that's strangely beautiful, and also illuminating!

[idun]

Yes, I think that it is beautiful too. I could hang something like that in my house to be honest.

So not only beautiful, but it really 'highlights' population density[Www]

[woolybanana]

Enlightening!

[alittlebitfrench]

Looks like it was taken when Rouen exploded the other day. LOL

[BritinBretagne]

Property prices? A lot of the very expensive parts of the UK are very dark.

Belgium is interesting, a lot of the light from there will come from street lighting as many of their major roads are lit, something that Germany paid for for many years.

[idun]

I agree about UK property prices, but in comparison to France it is only 'little'. 

And the dark areas in the UK. well, they are often 'beauty spots and second home owners etc have inflated prices horribly so that the locals have problems buying.

 

I don't need to get  started  about UK property prices, they are disgraceful, disgusting and I am so terribly sorry  for the young.

[nomoss]

[quote user="idun"]  .......................I don't need to get  started  about UK property prices, they are disgraceful, disgusting and I am so terribly sorry  for the young.

[/quote]

And no UK government of any stripe is ever likely to do anything to force them down.

[Patf]

What's the area at the north of Italy which is densely populated? I thought there were mountains there?

[idun]

 It is that area of Italy that often wants independence as that is the money making region of Italy and from what I gather many inhabitants have little time for rest of the country especially the south.

It is from the Po Valley and Turin to Milan and on to the far east of Italy and the border with Slovenian. It is a passage of non mountainous land between where the Appenines finish and just south of the Alpes, anything 'lumpy' are what I would call foot hills.

We have driven across that way a few times bailing off at Bolzano and up to the Austrian Tyrol via the Brenner Pass.

[mint]

Id, you are spot on about the attitude of people in northern Italy to those further south.  I heard about this time and time again when I was teaching English to Italian students.

Indeed, you could say the same about the Catalonians' attitude to the rest of Spain. 

But I digress from maps at night.  For a really stark contrast, you need to look at one of these maps of northern and southern Korea.  The south lit up like a gin palace and the north shrouded in darkness.  In the case of the Koreas, the darkness is physical as well as metaphorical.

[idun]

Ah yes I have seen the satellite photos over Asia, and NK is simply 'black'.

Makes me wonder just how much light the rest of us need to be honeset...... me thinks rather too much light pollution.[:D]

[Patf]

I'm not very good at geography - never knew there were 2 mountain ranges in that area. I thought it was only the Alpes.

Love and War in the Apennines by Eric Newby is a good book - he found the rural, poorer folk in that area very kind and helpful. Though there were fascists around too.

I wish we had been able to do some exploring there.

[idun]

    I think that our Pennines (word) comes from the Appenines in Italy as they run along the lenth of the country veering off to the west as they reach the far north and then more or less stopping before that brightly lit area.

I do find these nightime satellite maps fascinating.

[Gardengirl]

I find those maps fascinating too.

We’ve had some wonderful stargazing these last few nights/early mornings in the Gard, almost as though we could touch them from the balcony or our bedroom window. There are very few lights nearby, and the streetlights aren’t at all powerful and point downwards so very little light pollution.

At home in Berkshire streetlights near us have been changed for less powerful ones, and point downwards, far less light pollution there now so stargazing is far better than it was.

[BritinBretagne]

I (re) read Love and War in the Apennines this summer, it’s a book that I really like. I can’t remember if I’ve ever read the sequel but it’s on my list of things to do.

The lit up northern plain in Italy is one of my least favourite parts of the country but that could just be that you tend to have to pass through it on the way to other places. I wasn’t far away from there last Saturday when I was enjoying the sunshine at Lugano. I could see into Italy even if the closest I got was halfway across the lake.

[alittlebitfrench]

[quote user="Patf"]What's the area at the north of Italy which is densely populated? I thought there were mountains there?

[/quote]

Lyon and Grenoble ?

[idun]

   They meant that great band of light in the north of Italy just south of the massif of the Alpes, which are rather dark.

Lyon is quite bright on the map, Grenoble /Chambery less so.

And the award for the brightest EU country must go to Holland, I have no idea why they need so much night light, but it is amazingly bright[:D]

[cajal]

[quote user="idun"]

   And the award for the brightest EU country must go to Holland, I have no idea why they need so much night light, but it is amazingly bright[:D]

[/quote]

It will be generated from all their cigi-lighters being used to spark up their joints and spliffs.

[idun]

 [:D][:D][:D]   

[Patf]

@ BritinBretagne - I've got the sequel bookmarked to order:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Place-Italy-Eric-Newby/

[PaulT]

A number of years ago my OH surprised me with a night flight from Gatwick up the North Sea to near the Arctic Circle to hopefully see the Northern Lights - unfortunately hope evaporated.

The flight back wa noce down the North Sea and then to the West there was a very bright orange glow. We were told that it was Edinburgh.

Where I live in Lincolnshire the local authority decided that to save money they would switch some of the street lights off at midnight. Howls of protest:

'we no longer feel safe' etc

A couple of years on total silence on the matter. The density of lights could well be reduced.

As for astronomers perhaps in a large number of areas it is best to be a radio astronomer.

From the night images it surely shows that something needs to be done about external lighting.

[auxadrets]

The light in Holland is from the greenhouses.

[cajal]

I'm guessing here. I would say the bright star like location near the top right corner has to be St. Petersburg. Can anyone confirm/reject?

[Patf]

@ Cajal -

Could be, but more likely Moscow. Which is more inland.

I think St. Petersburg is on the Baltic coast. My GG grandfather was master of 2 ships sailing from NE England into the Baltic to trade coal for pine trunks for pit props. And I know he got as far as St. Petersburg.