I love astronomy. Duh. But I really love getting out under a dark, moonless sky and seeing the stars spangled across the velvety sky. There’s just something special and wonderful about it. And if you can get to a truly dark site, it’s spectacular. The Milky Way becomes a vivid stream of stars and clouds, spattered with darker regions where interstellar dust blocks our view of the treasures behind.
But this view is becoming increasingly difficult to find, especially in the United States. Cities get bigger, sprawl spreads farther, and the lights people use fill the sky with a persistent and irritating glow. We’re losing touch with the sky.
That’s why Jennifer Barlow started National Dark Sky Week (with participation from the International Dark Sky Association), a week where people are encouraged to turn down or off their outside lights, and to get out under the night sky.
This touches all of us. I have many stories about this sort of thing (like this one, or this one) and I am always amazed and gratified to see how "normal" people react when they get to a really dark site for the first time.
With Dark Sky Week, maybe we can all make that experience a little easier for everyone.
April 17th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
I was traveling at night in the fall between my home and where I was going to graduate school on the Interstate many years ago. I stopped at a rest stop which had no facilities other than just a place to park. There were no lights in this rest stop other than the occasional headlights from the cars passing by. Fortunately, there was enough screening from those lights that allowed my eyes to dark-adapt and quite frankly, I could not believe the sweep of stars I saw!. Unfortunately, it was several years before I became familiar with the night sky as a whole during my amateur astronomy days, but even then I don’t think I would have been able to pick out the constellation very easily from the large number of stars that I saw.
For a time reference, it was around 1967 when this occurred and I was most likely in western North Carolina in or near the Smoky Mountains.
I doubt I would be able to find this sort of viewing site again nowadays.
April 17th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Actually… a couple such dark sky sites still exist on the East Coast. Last November the honors program at my college sponsored a weekend retreat for bonding and fun and discussions and stuff. We went to the Mountain Institute, which is in the mountains (duh) of central West Virginia. It’s a very eco-friendly place and only runs lowlights during the night, in case you have to get up and go to the bathroom (which is in a separate building). You look up at night and just see this HUGE sweep of stars, in and out of the Milky Way. The view is actually somewhat blocked due to the tall evergreens surrounding the place, but it’s still gorgeous.
April 17th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
I get up to Kitt Peak for work every now and then and it is still pretty dark. Last time I was there in March, the Zodiacal Light was very bright on a moonless night.
Rob
April 17th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
I hope people around here will do it, I doubt they’ll get the news.
Useless for here anyway, it’s always cloudy and we’re getting stormy weather, I love to look at the sky though, I’ve only ‘seen’ the Milky Way once in my life and that’s what got me into astronomy. I hope you people actually get a chance to see the wonderful stars!
April 17th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
When I moved out here to the “boonies”, the electric company asked me if I wanted a yard light. I told them “only if you give me a switch so I could turn it off”. They said “no problem” then didn’t put one in at all. For some reason, I’ve never gotten around to complaining!
April 18th, 2007 at 12:24 am
I was about 11 before I even saw the Coal Sack, a reasonably prominent feature in Crux Australis (the constellation!) visible from here. Light pollution sucks.
April 18th, 2007 at 12:59 am
Pretty soon im moving to live in a quiet village about 30km away from the city. I can’t wait to finally live there and be able to witness a much darker sky from time to time. I’ll have a kind of deck near my bedroom – a perfect place for some observations with a scope.
April 18th, 2007 at 2:23 am
I could’nt sleep one night, so I thought I would get in my car and drive till I was out of the city [ Perth]. Boy what a reward. for the first time I could clearly see the Southern Cross in all it’s majesty and the band of light that makes up our Galaxy. Beautiful.
April 18th, 2007 at 2:46 am
There must more the local authorities can do (I live in the UK). Surely fitting reflectors on street lights to focus the light down would help? As will as cutting back on light pollution, they could probably get away with using lower power bulbs.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:01 am
It is good to see that people through out the world is seeking for the same air conditions as people here in Brazil.
That is why I can’t wait to the next Saturday, when the astronomy club than I am a member will make a trip to a mountain to see stars, planets…
Crossing fingers to have nice weather!
April 18th, 2007 at 8:22 am
I would give very much that one day I’m able to see a truly dark night sky! Here in Germany, especially near my home (the “Ruhrgebiet”) it’s so bright at night that there is nearly nothing to see.
But the University I go to has an own telescope in Chile. Maybe I can manage it to travel down there. This will be an amazing event!
April 18th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Hmm….I would think this would have had more impact if people (other than us astronomers) knew about it. I sure haven’t seen anything in the media about dimming lights for a week. How would anyone know?
I’m not missing much. Frackin’ Seattle winter has been SIX MONTHS LONG this year, and I haven’t seen much of the sky since late October.
Clouds, clouds, clouds,clouds, clouds,clouds, clouds,clouds, clouds,clouds, clouds,clouds, clouds,clouds, clouds……
Grumble…moan…whimper…fuss….gripe….
April 18th, 2007 at 8:42 am
[...] many will participate once they know about this. It’s a friggin awesome idea. (Thanks to BadAstronomy.com for the heads [...]
April 18th, 2007 at 11:23 am
“I love astronomy. Duh.”
-Phil Plait, Ph.D.
How great would that be as a t-shirt?
April 18th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Darkest place I’ve ever been was at Greenbank Observatory in West Virginia. I went out at dusk for a walk to see the other telescopes down the road and took too long to head back. The sky was pitch black and very clear, as if (as they say) I could have reached out and touched them. Problem was that I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face much less the road to take me back to the dorm. I had to navigate by listening to the crunch of the rocks on the road — when my footsteps were quiet, I must have veered onto the grass. *That* was dark.
Coolest dark sky I ever saw was southeast of Tucson during the summer. Once it got dark, I kept waiting for clouds to clear because they were blocking what I’d wanted to see. Must’ve been an hour or so before I realized that the cloud *was* the thing I’d been waiting to see. That’s what you get for living too far north.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
The BA says: “I have many stories about this sort of thing (like this one, or this one)…”
Just as a side question, how do you index your blog? I noticed that the first like was to an entry almost eight years old. How do you find these when you need them?
- Jack
April 18th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I was a summer intern at McDonald observatory in west Texas back in the late 70′s. One of the favorite stories around there was about a visiting astronomer who closed up his dome early one night because there were “clouds coming up in the east”. They weren’t clouds – it was the milky way! This guys had an astronomy PhD but has never seen the home galaxy before. True story.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Oops, that should have been “the first LINK” in my previous post.
- Jack
April 18th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Monhegan Island, 11 miles out in the Atlantic off the coast of Maine, small village of fewer than 100 people, no streetlights (essentially no streets), 4am, in late August. Best sky I’ve seen in years!
April 18th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Hey Phil,
Since you like dark skies and are moving to Boulder, you might put Aug 9 – 11 on your calendar for the WUTS star party near Fox Park. It is a dark site where the Milky Way is actually bright enough to cast a shadow. Its the favorite site for most of the amateur astronomers in this area. Course most of us manage to visit the area multiple times during the summer before then.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Is this expected to actually make much of a difference? I mean, I had not heard of this before this website and I would have to assume a significant portion of the population would need to take this seriously to make any noticeable difference.
There are some out of the way places in my area which are kinda dark… but not *that* dark.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Jack, I remember everything I’ve ever written.
No, seriously, I do remember most of the topics I’ve written on, so the blog search engine (upper right corner) and the main site search engine (bottom of the menu, left hand side) are my bestest friends.
Rich, I’ve heard that story told about the Nebraska Star party as well. That doesn’t make any more or less true or false, but it does sound like it could happen.
Vern: Thanks! I will definitely check it out. I hope to be able to get out under the skies a little more often now. I also need to put casters under my 12.5″ so I can haul it out of the garage a little more easily… and laser align the optics. Things to do, things to do…
November 10th, 2007 at 4:00 am
Check out these great DarkSky approved lights:
http://www.esplighting.com/9044.html
http://www.esplighting.com/9045.html