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First Results of the 2026 BuioMetria Partecipativa (Participatory Night Sky Monitoring) Observation Campaign

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[PLEASE NOTE: For the moment we are publishing this article with no translation in English, so feel free to use your favourite translation aid, or to inquire with us if you need more details: segreteria@unirural.org or +393317539228. In any case, if you are interested in being part of the BMP team for this campaign, we do have instructions in English https://www.mappare.org/en/bmp-en/. For more explanations on the pibinko.org network update policies on translations, please this article].

Dopo le prime sei settimane dal lancio della campagna 2026 della Buiometria Partecipativa (9-1-2026), dopo tre dal lancio dell’app che ci serve per raccogliere le osservazioni (che – ricordiamo- possono essere fatte da grandi e piccini), e dopo il passaggio di lunedì scorso a Roma alla conferenza Mappe di Luce, cominciamo a condividere un po’ di risultati.

E’ prestissimo per trarre conclusioni sui dati raccolti, anche se -avendo iniziato a documentare la cosa nel 2008- un po’ il quadro ce lo abbiamo.

Come nelle feste, quando cominciano le danze ci vuole qualcuno che si butti e inizi ad animare la pista: ringraziamo intanto, nella dozzina di persone che si sono fatte vive manifestando interesse a partecipare dalla Puglia al Piemonte, quelli che hanno materialmente hanno cominciato a trasmettere dati: Angelo (Circolo Legambiente Costa Etrusca), Luciano (CNR IBE), Franco da Polveraia, Federico Giussani, il nostro storico fotografo di paesaggi notturni, e Carlo Madrini (entrambi attualmente in missione in Marocco), Pardo da Livorno. Ecco che cosa hanno combinato, insieme a pibinko (cliccando su un punto si apre una finestra con varie note di campo, oltre al link alla foto scattata sul posto…vedrete anche altri dati “di servizio” ma ricordiamo che l’applicazione e le interfacce sono in versione iniziale):

I rilievi eseguiti in questa fase sono utilissimi per mettere a punto il flusso di raccolta delle informazioni e alcune ipotesi di lavoro. Intanto ci hanno fatto trovare un sacco di luci “nobbùono” ma anche situazioni “bbùono”, come avrebbe detto Andy Luotto. Per il momento vi lasciamo licenza di “clic” e non dilunghiamo in spiegazione verbose, che possiamo dare a chi fosse interessato, vedi sotto per i contatti.

Si prosegue con le osservazioni, e se siete interessati a partecipare alla CBMP2026, trovate le istruzioni alla pagina: https://www.mappare.org/bmp/ (o https://www.mappare.org/en/bmp-en/ per i vostri amici che leggono meglio in inglese).

Ricordiamo che la CBMP2026

  • non è una gara (ma potete ricevere premi se partecipate)
  • non è un progetto che parte con un finanziamento esterno (ma potete sostenerla)
  • non ha direzione scientifica esterna (ma collabora dal 2009 con istituzioni di ricerca in tutto il mondo)

e inoltre che

  • Vi può dare crediti formativi (sia negli studi che nella professione), attraverso il programma uni*rural* (https://www.unirural.org)
  • Se partecipate in modo non estemporaneo, vi metterà in relazione con diversi personaggi interessanti e/o ganzi e vi farà ripensare al vostro rapporto con la luce (e magari illuminare meglio e risparmiare due lire di bolletta elettrica)
  • Il 9 giugno compie 18 anni come progetto, e stiamo organizzando la festa.

Per chi fosse curioso dei dati raccolti nel periodo 2008-2025

Eccovi la mappa interattiva “storica”. Mano a mano andremo a integrare i dati della campagna 2026 in quella generale.

Per informazioni e booking

segreteria@unirural.org o 3317539228

Sigla: Il cielo è di tutti

Rome, Feb. 23-2-26: Maps of Light: Geographic Explorations of the Sky and the Earth (also streaming, and featuring BuioMetria Partecipativa)

Events

I am glad to share the program of a conference which will take place on Feb. 23, in Rome, at the Italian Geographic Society, and where our buiometria partecipativa project will be featured as the last talk, following experts from different disciplines.

The SGI is in Palazzetto Mattei in Villa Celimontana via della Navicella, 12 Rome (ph: +3906 7008279). It will be possible to follow the talks online at: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/32506399255263?p=OvTMx8D46jwYIHicMG. The official language of the conference will be Italian.

Vi aspettiamo a Roma o in streaming, con tre link recenti

…e una piccola sigla (del maggio 2020):

Altre info: micalosapevo@pibinko.org o 3317539228

BuioMetria Partecipativa 2026: Who goes first?

Compositions

With January’s waning moon here we go with the next BuioMetria Partecipativa (participatory night sky monitoring), campaign, turning 18 on June 9.

With the coming of age of our project we will be conducting, together with those who want to join, measurements of night sky quality with the “buiometro” (dark-sky meter), and other observations to better understand how light pollution works, how it can be reduced (without worsening our lifestyle), and how to use light in a more aware way.

The activities for this year are part of the course on “Nightscapes and dayscapes (link in Italian) by uni*rural*. This is the non-formal education program by the pibinko.org network, in collaboration with various partners. Active participants will be receiving educational credits which in some cases may be “spent” with your education institutions.

To start building our new team in the past months we have already contacted some wannabee “buiometristas”, especially in the southwestern quadrant of Tuscany (Pisa, Leghron, Grosseto). Then as you know, with the pibinko.org network we are open to contacts from any land, so please contact segreteria@unirural.org or +393317539228 if you are interested.

For all the BMP “files”: https://www.pibinko.org/buiometria-partecipativa-2/ …but please see below for an educated summary.

A little bit of history

In February 2008, over a phone call between two environmental engineers about options for an amateur astronomer holiday in Southern Tuscany with a territorial marketing plan based on lesser-know aspects of the same region, the BuioMetria Partecipativa (or BMP) project was conceived.

At the time the project was the second globally (and the first in the western hemisphere) to propose lending to citizens sensors to conduct night sky quality measurements. Without initial external funding (and, in fact, never with a lot of external funding), the project initially had a significant media impact in Italy (RAI Radio 2, TG2 Costume e Società, Mickey Mouse magazine with a “Speciale Cacciatori di Buio” ecc.) and started to develop collaborations with numerous sectors of society (see this summary from 2017)

In the winter of 2010-2011 BMP promoted the creation of the first national coordination for the collection of light pollution data from fixed monitoring stations. This happened in collaboration with Veneto Stellato, Università di Roma Tre and various amateur astronomer associations. Namely, the BMP team, after launching the idea, took care of writing the code to handl the data harvesting from stations which were using different communications protocols, the aggregation of all monitoring data in a web database, and an online query/reporting interface. The system was active between 2011 and 2019 and in its peak phase was providing data from ten stations from different Italian regions.

The European dimension

Between 2013 and 2016 BMP also had a liaison role between Italian actors and European research on light pollution issues. Andrea Giacomelli was appointed as the primary point of contact for Italy in the “Loss of the Night” project in the COST research exchange program. In the same period formal collaborations were started with the University of Pisa and the National Research Council’s Institute of Biometeorology (now Bioeconomy) in Florence. Between 2016 and 2018 BMP also had collaborations with the Stars4all HORIZON project.

Awards and recognitions, in Italy and abroad

The first award recived by the BMP project was in 2009. This was for a national contest called “La Seconda Luna”, and BMP came in fourth out of 120 applicants, curiously with a prize for a category which did not exist in the contest rules. In 2015 the project was invitated for a presentation at the Eye on Earth conference in Abu Dhabi (where it turned out to be the only Italian project out of over 600 participants). In 2019 Andrea Giacomelli was awarded the title of “dark sky defender” by the International Dark Sky Association, for the dissemination and awareness work done in the previous ten years.

Apart from “serious” recognitions, BMP also had an impact which we may define “emotional”. For example, in 2020 a book of short stories about darkness “Il Buio” (Erasmo Libri) had a story inspired by the BMP project (and the story actually won a literature award).

BMP, regulations, and policy

BMP in time also had an active role in governance support (maybe this is not by accident, since one of the two founding engineers has also been part of the drafting team for a European Directive). In 2012 BMP sent eight comments to the revision of the Piano Ambientale ed Energetico della Regione Toscana (the Tuscan master plan on environment and energy). Five of these observations, including the one which led to declaring the night sky as a tourism resource, were accepted. Furthermore, the BMP experts have periodically been invited to provide advice on lighting and energy efficiency issues on various administration levels.

In 2018-19, following the “Capraia Night Sky” symposium (co-organizzato with UNIPI and CNR IBIMET), BMP proposed once again the idea of a coordinating body across various subjects involved in outreach, administration, and research. This did not go forward, but it would not be complicated to reboot the process.

Since 2020

The 2020 pandemic gave a severe blow to participatory activities: it would have been very difficult to run a project involving hand-to-hand instrument logistics. However, the core of the BMP engine was adapted to operate in strict lockdown mode, with the Participatory Lithology project, which also led Andrea Giacomelli to be invited to be an alumnus of the Robert Bosch Foundation.

In the past five years the BMP project has essentially operated as an “on-call” project, however our effort in weaving connections across subjects who ofter operate independently (but live, in any case, under the same sky) has not stopped. In particular, we have consolidated the use of music, in addition to photography, as a means to facilitate the dialogue among different parties, and always using maps as a minimum common denominator for analysis and communication. We also got to observe the Milky Way by day, as shown in the video below!

Educational credits

Over all this time, BMP also had a practical role in the educational field. We have covered primary, secondary, and high schools, universities (including lectures and tutoring for ERASMUS students), and professional charter organizations (architects, engineers, environmental guides). To learn more on how to acquire educational credit with the BMP project: segreteria@unirural.org or +393317539228

Lastovo 2013 – How did it go?

Compositions, Photos

In 2013 I was invited, as the Italian point of contact in the European “Loss of the Night” research network (LoNNe) with BuioMetria Partecipativa, to the first night sky monitoring campaign for this project. This was in the island of Lastovo, Croatia.

This experience spawned the proposal to repeat the monitoring campaign the the Farma Valley, Southern Tuscany (with activities in Torniella, Belagaio, and Sesto Fiorentino) in 2015 (see https://www.pibinko.org/official-report-on-the-lonne-intercomparison-campaign-in-tuscany/)

For more information and anecdotes on this mission: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228.

July 7, 2024 6PM. Night Sky Quality and Land Quality at the Polo Culturale Pietro Aldi, Saturnia (Southern Tuscany)

Announcements

After last February’s event in Scansano, we touch base once more on night sky quality (and Buiometria Partecipativa, participatory night sky quality monitoring). This time we will be in the awesome setting of Polo Culturale Pietro Aldi in Saturnia (Southern Tuscany), combined with a typical product tasting and a visit to the Paride Pascucci exhibition…food for the body and for the mind.

Admission is free but a reservation is required at +390564601280 or info@poloaldi.it

A Video by CNR IBE Featuring a “BuioMetro” in the Svalbard Islands

Announcements

During our last “M’illumino di Meno” we explained that Luciano Massetti from the Italian Research Council’s Institute of Bioeconomy could not participate directly to the BuioMetria Partecipativa events due to the overlap with a mission to the Svalbard Islands. In fact, his goal was to deploy a night sky quality sensor. We did check with Luciano the possibility of having some form of live connection, but due to the tight schedule in such a peculiar research facility this was not possible. However, Luciano was able to document a few moments of his presence in this video, from which you may also have a glimps of what happens when Italian researchers venture in very cold places:

For more information:

Video source: https://video.ibe.cnr.it/w/oZwcqDV6UYxZ8rG1jcHxAv

The BuioMetria Partecipativa Map now embeds also readings by Unihedron

Announcements
A sky quality meter in the process of being “passed” as a relay baton between two characters in the pibinko.org network (Dec. 2016).

After switching back on the interactive BuioMetria Partecipativa map during the twentieth edition of “M’illumino di Meno”, we are gradually adding layers to the canvas that we would like to use over the coming months to trigger actions about light and darkness.

After the CNR IBE monitoring network, we have reloaded the data collected by Unihedron, i.e. the producer of the “Sky Quality Meter”, which we renamed as “buiometri” for our Italian communities.

The new map is available at https://www.pibinko.org/buiometriapartecipativa-map/.

We would like to recall that the Sky Quality Meter is not the only type of sensor existing for the measurement of night sky quality. In fact, with the BuioMetria Partecipativa since 2011 we have conducted various intercomparison and cross-calibration experiments. However, the SQM still remains as the most widespread entry-level sensor, plus it is the one which we have historically used as a liaison between the various participants to the buiometria measurement campaigns.

For more information: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228.

The BuioMetria Partecipativa Map now includes the CNR IBE Research Network

Announcements

Thanks to Luciano Massetti of the Italian Research Council Bioeconomy Institute, who is a historical collaborator of the BMP project, we are glad to add to our “classical” measures (i.e. those made with manual measurements by citizens), a new information layer.

This is represented by the location of fixed stations that CNR IBE has been deploying since 2015 to monitor artificial night sky brightness in various parts of Tuscany. The Tuscan network had a recent “spin-off” in the Svalbard Islands, since Luciano was on a mission in February 2024 to install a sensor in that remote location. By clicking on a given station, you may either review publications where the data have been presented, or contact Luciano for more information.