Annex
THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY QUESTIONNAIRE
Respondents' home locations were grouped as
(a) urban, (b) suburban, (c) Country with nearby towns and (d)
Country with no nearby towns.
In the results below, note that because not
everyone answered every question, some of the totals do not add
up to 100%.
Respondents were asked how severe light pollution
affected their home location in terms of what they could see.
Converting this to a scale of 1 to 4, where 1 is severe and 4
is trivial, we get:
| | 1
| 2 | 3
| 4 |
| Urban | 52%
| 46% | 2%
| 0% |
| Suburban | 30%
| 68% | 2%
| 0% |
| Country 1 | 18%
| 49% | 29%
| 4% |
| Country 2 | 0%
| 12% | 50%
| 38% |
A question was asked about the visibility of the Milky Way
from their home. On a scale of 1 (never) to 4 (easy), we get:
| | 1
| 2 | 3
| 4 |
| Urban | 46%
| 48% | 6%
| 0% |
| Suburban | 46%
| 42% | 12%
| 0% |
| Country 1 | 12%
| 38% | 28%
| 22% |
| Country 2 | 0%
| 18% | 32%
| 50% |
37% of the respondents can never see the Milky Way, and 79%
can either not see it at all or only on the best nights. Less
than one per cent find it easily visible on any clear night.
The next question concerned the distance that people have
to travel to get acceptable observing conditions:
| | >150
| 50-150 | 5-50
| 0 miles |
| Urban | 0%
| 22% | 64%
| 8% |
| Suburban | 2%
| 10% | 66%
| 16% |
| Country 1 | 0%
| 6% | 42%
| 44% |
| Country 2 | 0%
| 0% | 19%
| 81% |
The worse the observing conditions the further you have to
travel to get a reasonable sky. 58% of respondents have to travel
between 5 and 50 miles to get a good sky.
We asked whether people have found acceptable observing conditions
within the UK:
| | Yes
| No |
| Urban | 76%
| 16% |
| Surburban | 78%
| 14% |
| Country 1 | 80%
| 12% |
| Country 2 | 94%
| 6% |
Respondents were asked to specify the limiting magnitude
of the night sky at their home location on a very clear moonless
night.
| | <3
| 3-4 | 4-5
| 5-6 | >6
|
| Urban | 12% |
50% | 32%
| 4% | 2%
|
| Surburban | 4%
| 38% | 44%
| 2% | 2%
|
| Country 1 | 4%
| 18% | 46%
| 26% | 6%
|
| Country 2 | 0%
| 6% | 19%
| 44% | 16%
|
Responses concerning the effect that light pollution has
on astronomy are converted here to a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 the
most severe. The 0 category is for people who are not active observers.
| | 1
| 2 | 3
| 4 | 5
| 0 |
| Urban | 26% |
48% | 24%
| 2% | 0%
| 0% |
| Suburban | 10%
| 22% | 52%
| 8% | 0%
| 0% |
| Country 1 | 4%
| 18% | 44%
| 26% | 6%
| 2% |
| Country 2 | 0%
| 0% | 12%
| 38% | 50%
| 0% |
| 27 April 2003 |
| 
