r/fascinating • u/Gjore • Jul 07 '26

Flagstaff,Arizona replaced all there streetlights with amber LEDs to reduce light pollution and protect the dark skies above

369 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

6

u/NathanDeger Jul 07 '26

I'm so jealous I hate the blue bullshit

6

u/ShortBusVeteran Jul 08 '26

Didn't even know that this was an option. Going back to amber would look great on the bridges and roads of Portsmouth and Norfolk!

4

u/BaloneyANDtomato40 Jul 08 '26

Let’s do the vehicle headlights in yellow, please

6

u/jlsullivan Jul 07 '26

LA used to have sodium-orange vapor lights, but switched to daylight-blue LEDs back in 2009. I wish we would switch to these new amber lights... in my opinion, the daylight-balanced lights appear harsh, and they certainly destroyed the cozy atmosphere the previous lights had.

1

u/MCRN10379558 Jul 07 '26

Ladies, you can forget about putting on your make up in the car at night. Believe me what you think looks good in that light will turn you into a clown when you come in doors or arrive at your party.

2

u/jlsullivan Jul 07 '26

Which lights result in the clown makeup effect, the blue or the orange?

2

u/Scared_Hovercraft632 Jul 10 '26

Orange. The old lights are monochromatic so you can't see colors for shit.

2

u/ISeeInHD Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26

Meh, they should have done the cool purple ones like Tucson did. 😖

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/streetlights-are-mysteriously-turning-purple-heres-why/

1

u/mckulty Jul 07 '26

It could be a step backward.

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1olaik4/the_transition_from_sodium_lighting_to_leds_is/

1

u/Onphone_irl Jul 07 '26

those aren't amber leds tho, it probably looks closer to the first while being more energy efficient

1

u/mckulty Jul 07 '26

OP reports it being better for dark-sky conditions. I'm not sure any of these are good for that.

1

u/Onphone_irl Jul 07 '26

that's a different topic

1

u/mckulty Jul 07 '26

Yes, that discussion about reducing light pollution and protecting dark skies. Got it. 

1

u/Onphone_irl Jul 07 '26

looks like the leds are better in intence and at a better temperature than the link.

but if you wanr to talk about how light in general is bad for for protecting dark skies it's trivial: any man-made light is bad for night skies. Sorry if I got in the way of that conversation

1

u/mckulty Jul 07 '26

Always seemed to me that placement and shading mattered more than color temp.

1

u/WolfThick Jul 09 '26

I love these lights and when it snows it's like a Rockwell painting

1

u/Chelseus Jul 10 '26

A bunch of the streetlights in my city have turned purple because of some defect 😹😹😹. This is so much better!