A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which provides a fixed location that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More modern examples include a variety of radio beacons that can be read on radio direction finders in all weather, and radar transponders that appear on radar displays.
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Marblehead Lighthouse in Marblehead, Ohio, United States, is the oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the United States side of the Great Lakes. It has guided sailors safely along the rocky shores of Marblehead Peninsula since 1822, and is an active aid to navigation.
The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the General Lighthouse Authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for marine navigation aids around coastal areas.
North Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England.
Point Pinos Lighthouse was lit on February 1, 1855, to guide ships on the Pacific coast of California. It is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States and even the lens is original. Alcatraz Island Lighthouse preceded Point Pinos by 8 months, but was replaced in 1909 by the expanding military prison. The Point Pinos Lighthouse is still an active Coast Guard aid to navigation. On-site museum exhibits and other lighthouse related functions are operated by the city of Pacific Grove, Monterey County, California. The lighthouse is surrounded by the Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links.
Wood Island Light is an active lighthouse on the eastern edge of Wood Island in Saco Bay, on the southern coast of Maine. The light is just outside the entrance to Biddeford Pool and the end of the Saco River. The lighthouse is a 47-foot (14 m) conical white tower of granite rubble. The light itself sits 71 feet (22 m) above mean high water. Its automated beacon alternates between green and white every 10 seconds.
The DeTour Reef Light is a non-profit-operated lighthouse marking the southern entrance of the DeTour Passage between the eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Drummond Island. The light is an automated active aid to navigation. It marks the northern end of Lake Huron. The passage is used by almost all of the Great Lakes commercial freighter traffic moving to and from Lake Superior, with approximately 5,000 vessel movements annually. It is said to be "the gateway to Lake Superior." In addition, many recreational boaters use the passage. The Light is located in Lake Huron, three miles (5 km) south of the nearest town, DeTour Village, Michigan.
Aircraft warning lights are high-intensity lighting devices attached to tall structures as collision avoidance measures. Such devices make structures more visible to aircraft, and are usually used at night, although they may be used during the day. These lights need to be of sufficient brightness to be visible for miles around the structure.
The Highland Light is an active lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore in North Truro, Massachusetts. The current tower was erected in 1857, replacing two earlier towers that had been built in 1797 and 1831. It is the oldest and tallest lighthouse on Cape Cod.
The White Shoal Light is a lighthouse located 20 miles (32 km) west of the Mackinac Bridge in Lake Michigan. It is an active aid to navigation.
The Lighthouse of Genoa, is the main lighthouse for the city's port. Besides being an important aid to night navigation in the vicinity, the tower serves as a symbol and a landmark for the City of Genoa. Built of masonry, at 76 m (249 ft) it is the world's fifth tallest lighthouse and the second tallest "traditional" one. Between 1543 and the construction of the lighthouse on Île Vierge, France in 1902, it was the tallest lighthouse in the world. When measured as a whole with the natural rock on which it stands, as it is commonly perceived and represented, its height is 117 m (383 ft), which would make it the second tallest lighthouse in the world, the tallest in Europe, and the tallest traditional lighthouse.
The Wood Islands Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse situated on the southeastern shore of Prince Edward Island, located in the community of Wood Islands. The lighthouse is a well-preserved three storey tower with an adjoining 1 1⁄2-storey keeper's residence. The white shingled tower is topped by a red iron lantern, which is enclosed by a white railing on the observation deck. The red roof of the dwelling provides a striking contrast to the white shingled exterior of the dwelling.
The VRB-25 is a lighthouse optical system designed and built by Vega Industries Ltd. in Porirua, New Zealand. It was originally designed in 1993-95 with the assistance of the United States Coast Guard to meet USCG requirements for a robust mechanism requiring minimum maintenance. It has become the Coast Guard's standard 12 volt rotating beacon. The company's literature says there are more than 400 installations worldwide. More than a quarter of the active lighthouses in Maine have one installed.
Double Island Point Light is an active lighthouse located at the summit of Double Island Point, a coastal headland within the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park. It is located at the southern end of Wide Bay, 70 kilometres (43 mi) north of Noosa Heads, Queensland, Australia.
North Reef Light is an active lighthouse located on North Reef, a 5.6 square kilometres (2.2 sq mi) planar reef, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northeast of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia in the Capricorn and Bunker Group. The lighthouse was constructed on a migratory patch of sand inside a fringing coral reef, which over the years disappeared and reappeared, as sand was washed away and accumulated, and is now a vegetated sandy island. Its construction is unique, having a hollow concrete base that both gives it resistance to the shifting nature of the sandbar and serves as a freshwater tank. As such, it is considered one of the major achievement in Australian lighthouse construction. It is also notable in that due to the harsh conditions, only bachelors were allowed to serve as lighthouse keepers. At 24 metres (79 ft) it is also the tallest of Queensland's timber-framed iron clad lighthouses.
An automatic lamp changer is a device used to ensure that a navigational light such as a marine lighthouse or aero beacon stays lit even if a bulb burns out. Numerous types exist. The common design elements are an array of two or more lamps, installed on a mounting which can rotate to various positions. Each position brings a different lamp into the focal point of an optical assembly. Since signal and navigational lights use sophisticated optics to focus the beam, lampchangers are designed to position the new bulb at the focal point with high precision. The device automatically detects when the currently active lamp has ceased to function and moves the next lamp into place.
Orfordness Lighthouse is a decommissioned lighthouse on Orford Ness, in Suffolk, England. The 30 metres (98 ft) tower was completed in 1792. The light had a range of 25 nautical miles. It was equipped with an AIS transmitter with MMSI 992351016.
The PEL sector light is a projector style marine beacon which is used to guide maritime vessels. It does this by projecting a colored sector out to sea with very sharp color changes as the mariner transitions from one sector to the next. Typical PEL sector lights will have a complete color change over 1 meter when the mariner is 5 km from the beacon. The PEL's application becomes relevant to the mariner when combined with a local marine chart as each application of a PEL varies greatly. They are used for guiding vessels into harbor, traffic separation or to illuminate hazards. The main advantage to a PEL sector light is that it has very sharp transitions between colors and is bright enough to be used in daylight with up to 10 Nautical Miles or 18.5 km visibility.
The Bugio Lighthouse is situated on an island in the estuary of the River Tagus on the Fort of São Lourenço do Bugio, about ten kilometres west of Lisbon. It falls under the municipality of Oeiras in Lisbon District.
