Canyon outcropping near MP5, Yakima Canyon, originally uploaded by Scott Butner.

It’s the bane of astronomers and night time photographers everywhere — light pollution! It robs us of the stars, cuts us off from the music of the spheres.

No, it’s probably not as bad as persistent toxins in the environment, but it’s a shame, nonetheless.

So, what to do? Well, it turns out that P2 can be applied to light pollution as well. Check out the International Dark Sky Association, for instance. They’ve produced a number of documents, including this guide to “good lighting/bad lighting.”

If you want something more…well, “Web 2.0″ — consider WikiHow’s article on “how to prevent light pollution.” Note the related article on “how to become an environmentalist” — in case you were wondering.

The Light From Above web site has a lot of resources — of varying quality — on light pollution for those interested in anything from the science to the policy of restoring darkness.

And, as you might expect — Sky and Telescope magazine has a great resource center on restoring dark skies.

Check ‘em out!

Railcars at sunset (clean), originally uploaded by Scott Butner.

Sorry I haven’t been able to post more Korea pictures yet — sort of waiting until we have an “OK” from our host to include more pictures of the industrial facilities we visited.

So instead, my weekly photo post is a reminder that access to hazardous materials needs to be controlled not just on-site, but in adjacent sidings and rail yards as well.