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fhdkweigyesterday at 2:59 PM1 replyview on HN

Los Angeles has the Griffith Observatory. To allow the city to have street lighting while not interfering with the observatory, the lights are sodium vapor lights that emit a specific wavelength that the observatory can filter out. Since LEDs also use specific wavelengths, this could have been done.

I was disappointed that the article didn't mention this, especially because they did mention sodium, but only as a pretty color.


Replies

OkayPhysicistyesterday at 4:07 PM

I quite like the 2 wavelength light that sodium lamps give out. When I was in school, my university gradually went from all sodium to all LED, and it was definitely a loss. The complete loss of hue, combined with the soft buzz of a dying sodium lamp had a certain otherworldly feel to it. I found it quite relaxing.