Most of us turn off the light in our rooms before we go to bed, but what about the lights outside of our houses? That’s a question that researchers at Ruhr University Bochum are examining this September and October, and they’re asking the public to help. Citizen scientists will gather the data for this project using the “Nachtlichter” (Nightlights) app. The project aims to measure what fraction of different types of lights turn off late at night, and at what time. “This is useful for scientists, because the only worldwide satellite images of Earth are taken very late at night, and don’t provide an accurate picture of the early evening”, says Dr. Christopher Kyba, the project lead from the Interdisciplinary Geographic Information Sciences group at Ruhr University Bochum. Interested parties can find all the information they need on the project website.

The full press release with more background information can be found on the RUB press portal.