Good News
A Gurugram Class 12 student built SkyQi, a free site that rates light pollution from a phone photo; people in 63 countries use it
Suhani Gupta's tool has collected nearly 1,200 night-sky photos from more than 490 people.
In short
63countries using SkyQi
- Photos: 1,198
- Contributors: 490+ in 63 countries
- Brightness rise in 50 cities: ~70%
The tool
Suhani Gupta started building SkyQi in May 2025 and launched it that September. It estimates how dark the sky is from a phone photo using star counts, brightness and camera settings, and flags pictures where clouds may skew the result. It has received 1,198 photos from more than 490 people in 63 countries; India is the third-biggest contributor.
What she found
Her analysis of NASA satellite data for 50 Indian cities found night-time brightness rose about 70% between 2015 and 2025. She says SkyQi has not yet been checked against a professional meter and plans to keep improving it.
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The Better India↗
