Aldebaran and oystercatcher against light pollution

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This video is called Full Moon, Jupiter with Galilean Moons and Aldebaran. It says about itself:

Full Moon with Jupiter with Galilean Moons (and the RINGS) and Aldebaran. It was an amazing formation to view tonight, 29 November 2012 in the skies. A full moon with an L-shaped alignment very close by of the planet Jupiter and the fabled star of Taurus, Aldebaran. This is the smallest full moon of 2012, by the way!

Photos: here.

Our last evening on Texel island. 26 October 2013, after the Schorren nature reserve birds. In the dark, the stars, like Aldebaran, are visible.

Maybe a bit better visible than usually. As tonight is a special night, a night against light pollution. People are asked to turn off electric lights, as they harm some wildlife.

They don’t harm all wildlife, Texel ornithologist Adriaan Dijksen said. Grey herons profit from it by fishing at night near the lampposts of Den Burg, the biggest village on Texel.

Then, to the dark Wadden Sea dike. Far away, the lights of the lighthouses of Texel, Vlieland and Terschelling islands. Many birds don’t sleep all the time at night. We heard oystercatcher and gray lag goose calls.

A similar event on Texel in 2015: here.

No light pollution at Boschplaat, Terschelling: here.

Austria: Artificial light in cities exerts negative effects on humans, animals, and their environment. In an ongoing research project, behavioral biologists are investigating how blue tits in the Viennese Forests react to “light pollution.” The study might help to understand effects of “light-at-night” on reproductive behavior of birds. In consequence, it could help developing concepts, minimizing negative effects on the lives of animals and the ecological system, by reducing light sources in specific regions: here.

Light pollution shown to affect plant growth and food webs: here.

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