Introducing the dark sky unit for multi-spectral measurement of the night sky quality with commercial digital cameras

Abstract

Multi-spectral imaging radiometry of the night sky provides essential information on light pollution (skyglow) and sky quality. However, due to the different spectral sensitivity of the devices used for light pollution measurement, the comparison of different surveys is not always trivial. In addition to the differences between measurement approaches, there is a strong variation in natural sky radiance due to the changes of airglow. Thus, especially at dark locations, the classical measurement methods (such as Sky Quality Meters) fail to provide consistent results. In this paper, we show how to make better use of the multi-spectral capabilities of commercial digital cameras and show their application for airglow analysis. We further recommend a novel sky quality metric the “Dark Sky Unit”, based on an easily usable and SI traceable unit. This unit is a natural choice for consistent, digital camera-based measurements. We also present our camera system calibration methodology for use with the introduced metrics.