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They're definitely far far brighter. Here a photo of an old sodium vapor lamp next to a (failing) LED near me: https://photos.app.goo.gl/vwidbJUmG997VLRN7

As far as directional lighting patterns go, that's a matter of the lamp design. Sodium vapor could be housed in a reflector that directs nearly all of it's light downwards.

I'm not against LED technology being used though, just the rampant failing LEDs and the obnoxious brightness & color they produce. Also not fond of the futuristic looking light pole design they seem to always use.

For astrophotography, sodium vapor's color cast is very easy to filter out, whereas the broad spectrum LEDs are not, especially when they don't all emit the same frequencies.






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