LENSS

Lakeshore Environment and Night Sky Sensor

The ultimate goal of LENSS is to build and deploy a remotely-operable Sky Quality Meter that can take continuous measurements of how dark the skies are around Geneva Lake for the purpose of improving community engagement in the important health and safety issues associate with light pollution.

Active Sensors

WHAT IS LENSS?

The Lakeshore Environoment and Night Sky Sensor project was launched in May 2019 as one the tech projects offered by GLAS Education for high school students interested in doing something positive for our community while learning first-hand about careers in STEM. Working with professionals in engineering, project management, coding, and design, students designed, constructed, and tested a remotely-operable sky quality meter. Quality skies are dark skies and they benefit wildlife, human health, boating safety, and our ability to see and study the universe from Walworth County.

LENSS – The special kind of Sky Quality Meter

Sky quality meter with read-out. — The Sky Quality Meter is expensive and inconvenient, so…

Small electronic circuit. — We decided to build our own!

Young man in blue T-shirt pointing at image of small electronic circuit. — Students designed the first prototype.

Group of seven young men and women in winter coats. — Our first measurements were taken during a boat trip around the lake.

Young man with pointer at large computer screen showing a chart. — Students analyze the results

Work table. — Thanks to COVID, we had to test our next prototype at GLAS

Young man in black shirt and mask at work table. — Students came three times a week to work on the project.

Young woman using drill on electronic monitor housing. — Our latest prototype needs to look good too!

Smiling woman standing behind a housing for a dark sky monitor. — Deb Kaelbli from GLAS designed the first facade.

Electronic monitor placed in housing. — Your sensor can be disguised to match your landscaping.

Man in mask placing monitor in housing. — Chris Kirby from GLAS places the sensor in the facade.

Three young women in masks sitting on couch. — If you’re siblings, you can work closely together at GLAS

Smiling man in red and white striped shirt. — Marc Berthoud, astronomer and engineer, is the glue that hold all of our work together. Thanks Marc!

See some of our LENSS results!

Our sensors are continuously taking data. With Python, we’ve been able to plot the light frequency on a nightly basis. With this data, we hope to see a change in light pollution on a yearly basis.

What can you do to help?

The first long-term field testing of a LENSS Project meter is starting now. Two sensors will be placed at homes on the Geneva Lake shoreline on Noveber 10, 2020 The units will be monitored closely and modification to our design will be made during the winter. Our goal is to have ten additional sensors ready to be placed by May 1, 2021 at regular intervals around the lake with an additional 10 ready for the fall. If you are interested in hosting LENSS on your property and are able to provide a source of power and WiFi access, then please contact GLAS.