Evaluation of Sources of Artificial Light at Night With an Autonomous Payload in a Sounding Balloon Flight

The presence of artificial light at night is not only limiting astronomical observations but has been linked to negative effects on human health and behavior of wildlife. New measurement systems are therefore needed to monitor artificial light emissions and their time evolution; Misurazione dell' INquinamento LUminoso autonomous payload has been designed and tested at University of Padova to provide complete aerial observations of artificial light sources over extended areas, with the capability to be integrated either on stratospheric balloons or drones. The implemented architecture is based on commercial components and is controlled by a Raspberry PI single board computer with the capability of uninterrupted operation up to 5 h. The payload was successfully launched with a stratospheric sounding balloon on July 8, 2021 from Lajatico (Tuscany) and performed continuous analysis of emission sources up to the burst altitude of 34 km. The article will describe the calibration activity of the imaging unit which includes commercial cameras with dedicated filters used as luminance measuring device and raw spectrometer and present the elaboration of georeferenced images after reconstruction of the unit's inertial pointing along flight trajectory using combined GPS and IMU data integration.

Automated summary

The presence of artificial light at night is causing limitations in astronomical observations and has negative effects on human health and wildlife behavior. To monitor artificial light emissions and their changes over time, new measurement systems are required. The Misurazione dell' INquinamento LUminoso autonomous payload, designed and tested at the University of Padova, offers complete aerial observations of artificial light sources over extended areas and can be integrated on stratospheric balloons or drones.