Day 78: Kill the lights to see more stars
The world's light pollution
The Grand Canyon has been on my mind lately, possibly because it’s the perfect time of year for backpacking down there. There are many things to love about the place. For me, one of them is the Big Dipper. I love sleeping under the stars, and opening my eyes in the still-dark morning to see the Big Dipper hovering bright and close, looking poised to dump its contents.
The nearby city of Flagstaff, where I lived for 10 years and will return someday, became the world’s first International Dark-Sky City in 2001, owing to the presence of several important observatories and the dedicated efforts of a handful of astronomers. The city government and even most of the businesses have readily complied with responsible lighting codes to protect views of the night sky for residents and astronomers alike.
The skies are pretty dark over Flagstaff; the stars are rich at night. The Grand Canyon is even more impressive that way — especially on the north side. The views after dark are as stunning and magical as those during daylight.
But even those skies aren’t as good as they could be, because light pollution from cities up to 200 miles away — including Las Vegas and Phoenix — is gradually creeping in. Chad Moore, a dark skies advocate who works for the National Park Service in Denver, has spent nearly a decade documenting the skies over 55 of the nation’s parks, which are usually the best places to see the stars.
Parts of rare parks — Capitol Reef, Great Basin and Big Bend among them — boast truly dark skies. As for my treasured memories of the skies over Grand Canyon, Moore says I’ve “never experienced how good it can be” in a place like Natural Bridges, where the night sky is truly pristine.
And he says there are reasons besides beauty to work on keeping light pollution at bay: ”In the last 10 years there has been a revolution in our understanding of animal habitat and what animals require. There are links between artificial light and cancer in humans. There’s a lot we didn’t know about.”
As it happens, there’s an upcoming opportunity for activism. The International Dark-Sky Association is hosting International Dark-Sky Week April 20–26 this year.
The rest of this post has a little more information and a handful of websites to check out …
The goal of International Dark-Sky Week ultimately is to encourage better lighting. Turning out the lights for one week will only temporarily reduce light pollution and raise awareness about the problem, but lighting fixtures that focus the light downward instead of up into the sky will have the lasting effects that this campaign seeks to achieve. International Dark-Sky Week encourages the awareness of light pollution and promotes lighting fixtures that minimize it.
“The only way that International Dark-Sky Week can succeed is if more people participate every year,” said Jennifer Barlow, founder of the event, “no reduction in light pollution can be made unless a significant number of people turn off their lights.”
Besides turning out the lights, the participating groups are encouraging people to attend star parties, visit local observatories, or “dust off the old telescope from the attic,” Barlow said.
For more information:
International Dark-Sky Association
IYA Dark Skies Awareness
Starlight Initiative
World Night in Defense of Starlight
American Astronomical Society
Astronomical League
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