While searching for images of heliodons, we stumbled upon this map of the artificial night sky brightness of North America. More info and maps at lightpollution.it, a website maintained by Pierantonio Cinzano.



Here's a detail showing Chicago as a white blob blazing at the center of an artificial Midwestern galaxy of flaming star cities.



Seeing that made us wonder how much of that light pollution is coming from Millennium Park, from a certain twin towering LED bonfire inferno. Or for that matter, from all the neighborhood parks, forest preserves, prairie restoration sites, green roofs and other public spaces combined.

Say you had an electronic zoning map monitoring the electric consumption of the various zoning areas. Would you find the Parks with their xenon-drenched baseball fields spiking a little higher than the Single-Family and Multi-Family parcels?

Which outshines which? Cahokia Mounds vs. Empire State Building. Gettysburg National Military Park vs. Golden Gate Bridge. Yellowstone National Park vs. Highway 80.

Submit your findings to Information Aesthetics.