Expert: Ed - 7/22/2008

Question
Hello,
I was wondering if optical telescopes detect light from Earth sources (interference) like radio telescopes can detect radio interference?
Thankyou very much,
Alice

Answer
Alice, the answer is YES!  This is a big problem in astronomy.  

Google the phrase "light pollution" to find lots of websites.  These guys are trying to do something about it:
http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=56411&orgId=idsa

This page has some helpful synopses of related issues.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/resources/darksky

In today's world, one of the (very few) positive effects of energy getting more expensive, is that people will be saving electricity more, at night.  This means that it could get easier for all of us to see the stars at night.  At first, the changes will probably not be noticeable, but eventually, who knows?

Keep Looking Up,
--Ed