Idaho is creating a 3,600 square kilometer Dark Sky Reserve
September 16, 2017 9:20 PM Subscribe
After years of work, a group of dedicated enthusiasts will finally apply to have the first Dark Sky Reserve in the US.
The International Dark-Sky Association has certified only 11 other reserves across the globe, and only one other in the Americas, at Mont-Mégantic national park in Québec.
Each Reserve covers at least 700 square kilometers, and light pollution is so imperceptible that it is possible to see the interstellar dust clouds of the Milky Way.
As one of the mayors involved said: "It's nice to look up and see something greater than ourselves."
I would love to see this happen for the Davis Mountains & Fort Davis area in Texas. The town is totally on board with the observatory already, but Marfa, Presidio & Marathon could be brought into the fold. The Milky Way is pretty damn spectacular from the McDonald observatory, & could be improved upon with just a bit of work.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:53 PM on September 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:53 PM on September 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
"Opposition to dark sky measures elsewhere in the U.S. have come from the outdoor advertising industry and those against additional government regulations."
So, assholes and people that support assholes. I wish people paid more attention to how "onerous government regulation" that "negatively affects businesses" often also "makes the world a better place."
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:53 PM on September 16, 2017 [31 favorites]
So, assholes and people that support assholes. I wish people paid more attention to how "onerous government regulation" that "negatively affects businesses" often also "makes the world a better place."
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:53 PM on September 16, 2017 [31 favorites]
So much envy for the people around there. I miss the stars.
posted by egypturnash at 11:25 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by egypturnash at 11:25 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
What's most astonishing to me about all the Dark Sky efforts is that until 150 years ago dark skies were all the entire world had. It's a remarkable thing we've lost. I wouldn't give up artificial lighting for anything, mind you, but still.
posted by Nelson at 12:01 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 12:01 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
It's not just light pollution, it's also a sheer waste of electricity having all that light shining uselessly into space. And I guess part of it is definitely made worse by air pollution as well: no point having dark skies if you can't see the stars for the smog!
I live right in Melbourne's CBD which is a blaze of light and I once shot a star photo for fun, it looks like this. I also drove 100km in a straight line away from the city and shoot this. The red glow in the second picture is the light pollution from Melbourne which can be seen even that far away. Both shots were about 11pm at night.
posted by xdvesper at 12:09 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
I live right in Melbourne's CBD which is a blaze of light and I once shot a star photo for fun, it looks like this. I also drove 100km in a straight line away from the city and shoot this. The red glow in the second picture is the light pollution from Melbourne which can be seen even that far away. Both shots were about 11pm at night.
posted by xdvesper at 12:09 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
Our Night Sky Festival (the 9th) starts on Thursday, if anyone wants to come by. Dava Sobel is the keynote speaker.
p.s. More about Acadia National Park’s dark skies just overhead.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:04 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
p.s. More about Acadia National Park’s dark skies just overhead.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:04 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I note there's no listing in any of the 5 designations from the African continent.
posted by infini at 2:16 AM on September 17, 2017
posted by infini at 2:16 AM on September 17, 2017
I like that part of Idaho a lot, and this just adds to that. I hope this is successful.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:13 AM on September 17, 2017
posted by Dip Flash at 5:13 AM on September 17, 2017
I looked through their lists for the Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Preserve, which is in cottage country a couple of hours north of Toronto. I'm not sure what criteria it fails on to not be part of this listing.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 7:45 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by sevenyearlurk at 7:45 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
International Dark-Sky Association
IDA HO!
posted by hal9k at 8:49 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
IDA HO!
posted by hal9k at 8:49 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I hope this comes off. Lots of people have 'see the Aurora' on their list of must-dos, but lying on your back under a perfectly clear night sky staring at the standard-issue light show for an hour or so is a lot more reliable and pretty damn awesome in its own right.
It's not just the astonishing spectacle of the Milky Way and the constellations in Imax-mocking detail, plus whatever planets are around at the time; there's a lot going on. Plenty of satellites - some steady, some chenging brightness (and some which flare up to intense brightness out of nowhere for a few seconds) - going in many directions and speeds, and you really don't need to be looking during a shower for a good chance to catch a meteor or two.
The show's free, it's on every night (weather permitting), and it's infinite.
Beat that, Netflix.
(Oh, and it's amazing what you can see with the Mark 1 eyeball alone...)
posted by Devonian at 9:12 AM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
It's not just the astonishing spectacle of the Milky Way and the constellations in Imax-mocking detail, plus whatever planets are around at the time; there's a lot going on. Plenty of satellites - some steady, some chenging brightness (and some which flare up to intense brightness out of nowhere for a few seconds) - going in many directions and speeds, and you really don't need to be looking during a shower for a good chance to catch a meteor or two.
The show's free, it's on every night (weather permitting), and it's infinite.
Beat that, Netflix.
(Oh, and it's amazing what you can see with the Mark 1 eyeball alone...)
posted by Devonian at 9:12 AM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
I looked through their lists for the Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Preserve, which is in cottage country a couple of hours north of Toronto. I'm not sure what criteria it fails on to not be part of this listing.
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has their own dark sky certification program. Torrance Barrens is RASC certified, so it's possible they've never applied for IDA recognition.
posted by zamboni at 9:22 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has their own dark sky certification program. Torrance Barrens is RASC certified, so it's possible they've never applied for IDA recognition.
posted by zamboni at 9:22 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm glad someone mentioned the Davis Mountains and the area around McDonald Observatory; the skies there are truly astonishing -- and, sadly, under threat from increased oil and gas extraction in the area:
The Observatory is trying, with some success, to work with the operators in the area to revise lighting and flaring practices:
posted by orthicon halo at 9:23 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Over the last decade, the number of gas flares and brightly-lit drilling facilities near the Observatory have increased, particularly in the Permian Basin, the largest oil field in the state, that sits northeast of the Observatory. [Bill Wren, a veteran astronomer and the McDonald Observatory’s authority on dark skies] told The Daily Texan he has data showing the sky beginning to brighten—even before it was visually brighter—around 2009, right around the start of the [West Texas oil and gas drilling boom].-- "Fracking is ruining one of the last truly dark places in the US, and astronomers are on edge", Quartz, April 13, 2017.
The Observatory is trying, with some success, to work with the operators in the area to revise lighting and flaring practices:
In April 2017, the Permian Basin Petroleum Association (PBPA) published its “Recommended Lighting Practices” for oilfield lighting. The Recommended Practices (RPs) were developed in partnership with the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, a world-class astronomical research facility located in the heart of the Davis Mountains near Fort Davis, and are formulated to help protect the dark night skies for the Observatory and improve visibility for nighttime activities in the oilfield. The RPs also include language to mitigate sky glow resulting from the flaring of excess natural gas.-- "When Staying in the Dark is the Brightest Idea", Permian Basin Petroleum Association Magazine, September 5, 2017.
posted by orthicon halo at 9:23 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Oh man, dark skies out West are amazing.
About 20 years ago, I went on a road trip to Utah with a friend who'd just finished up his hitch in the Marines. We spent some time in Natural Bridges National Park - incidentally, the first Dark Sky Park.
So you remember sunbathing as a kid, and you could see the blood vessels in your eyelids? I swear I could do that by the light of the moon out there. The Milky Way has actual discernible edges. It's crazy.
posted by notsnot at 12:06 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
About 20 years ago, I went on a road trip to Utah with a friend who'd just finished up his hitch in the Marines. We spent some time in Natural Bridges National Park - incidentally, the first Dark Sky Park.
So you remember sunbathing as a kid, and you could see the blood vessels in your eyelids? I swear I could do that by the light of the moon out there. The Milky Way has actual discernible edges. It's crazy.
posted by notsnot at 12:06 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm glad someone mentioned the Davis Mountains
We were resolving 10th magnitude galaxies with our 6 inch reflector in the hotel parking lot at Davis Mts State Park. We also went out there for Pann Stars & it was hard to spot, but once you had it, there it was. I got a lot of pictures, using 2-4 second exposures.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:09 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
We were resolving 10th magnitude galaxies with our 6 inch reflector in the hotel parking lot at Davis Mts State Park. We also went out there for Pann Stars & it was hard to spot, but once you had it, there it was. I got a lot of pictures, using 2-4 second exposures.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:09 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I once mistook an aurora for the sky glow of a city one night when I was driving a hundred miles or so. It's amazing how much light pollution farm lights alone can put out, much less a town of a thousand people.
With a small amount of extra expense, however, that light pollution can be reduced to near zero and ongoing electricity savings can be realized, but it just isn't a priority outside of a very few places.
posted by wierdo at 8:06 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
With a small amount of extra expense, however, that light pollution can be reduced to near zero and ongoing electricity savings can be realized, but it just isn't a priority outside of a very few places.
posted by wierdo at 8:06 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I really wish turning the lights off (or down) in the cities was a regularly planned thing. Once a month on the new moon would be nice, but even a fours times a year would great.
In my fantasy idealized world doing a "lights off" night and making it a city or nationwide starwatching party is a cultural tradition.
Meanwhile I'm stuck in the real world where people call 911 during power outages because they think Venus or the Milky Way is a UFO.
On the other hand, high efficiency and well shielded LED street lighting and increasingly strict ordinances about advertising and outdoor lighting are starting to slowly make skies darker again in some places.
posted by loquacious at 11:29 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
In my fantasy idealized world doing a "lights off" night and making it a city or nationwide starwatching party is a cultural tradition.
Meanwhile I'm stuck in the real world where people call 911 during power outages because they think Venus or the Milky Way is a UFO.
On the other hand, high efficiency and well shielded LED street lighting and increasingly strict ordinances about advertising and outdoor lighting are starting to slowly make skies darker again in some places.
posted by loquacious at 11:29 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I once mistook an aurora for the sky glow of a city one night when I was driving a hundred miles or so.
Earlier this year I was out trying to get photos of the ISS/Zarya flying over for a star trail timelapse.
I'd been planning this shot for months, and because of the weather in the PNW I have maybe 1-2 clear nights a year when I'll get a good northerly track from ISS/Zarya at a good time shortly after sunset, where the track lines up with Polaris and the curved arc of a concrete structure. I did the math and I probably spent a solid 30-40 hours just nerding out in google maps, the photographers ephemeris and using a star chart site that lets you adjust the field of view, which is super handy for trying to pre-visualize night sky photography for a given wide angle lens.
Basically, not only do I need to have a pretty good idea which way to point my camera for astronomical/sidereal north, but a pretty precise idea of how the concrete structure doesn't point to geomagnetic or astronomical north at all. Because I'm trying to combine Polaris, ISS/Zarya and a near-field architectural structure it's not as simple as just pointing my camera at Polaris and opening the shutter.
Because once I'm out there I really can't see what the hell I'm doing. Operating the camera blows out my night vision, so I'm kind of working blind and from memory and notes. It took me about an hour of taking noisy high ISO, shorter length test shots and moving the tripod around until I was ok with the framing and ready for ISS to fly over.
Even using a plain optical viewfinder it's really difficult to frame up a shot with this kind of symmetry in the dark, and it's still not even close to perfect. But you can see how I was trying to get the arch of ISS/Zarya's curved track to match up with opposing the concrete curve. This is entirely uncropped and untuned. I'm aiming for in-frame perfection on composition and exposures because I'm a sick masochist like that.*
This is that shot. Please note the strange haze at the bottom near the concrete.
That was one the best of two shots like that where I captured ISS/Zarya. These two shots took about 5 hours of me sitting around in the cold doing damn near nothing for mind numbingly tedious amounts of time. Each shot is a 20 minute exposure, and takes 20+ minutes to process. The ISS/Zarya flyovers are about 90 minutes apart, so that leaves another 45-50 minutes doing nothing and not moving the camera until the next pass.
The whole time I'm getting these shots I'm getting some weird, hazy light pollution and I'm starting to get angry and pissed off at it, because I think the fog is rolling in down the Juan de Fuca and it's going to ruin months of planning and waiting for a clear night where everything finally lines up close enough. I even climb halfway up out of the concrete artillery bunkers and peek over the edge, and sure enough it looks like the fog rolling in, damnit.
So I get that last good shot linked above, I break down my tripod and stuff and pack everything back up on my bike. I'm cold, I'm exhausted and I'm actually feeling a little cranky and anticlimactic, because for whatever reason I don't think I got the shot as good as I wanted.
I'm climbing out of the bunker fully for the first time in 5+ hours and seeing the horizon for the first time, and it's like 1:30 in the morning...
No, it was a sudden G2 class storm and level 7 aurora and I'd just spent the last 5 hours ignoring it and getting mad at it. This shot is barely 30 minutes after the one linked above, right after the 20 minutes to process and about 10 minutes to pack up and climb out.
I was so tired I almost didn't my tripod and camera back up. And as I'm setting up I'm realizing the time and that I maybe have 30 minutes of aurora left because of how they work, and I running around cursing trying to get some decent framing of it because I'm kind of stuck on top of this concrete bunker that's an island in a sea of trees, and the next nearest vista is at least 20 minutes of wrestling with gear, biking, and setting back up again.
And I'm glad I did.
I've been chasing aurora alerts vs. overcast skies all year since then. The most recent burst hit my area right after the skies became cloudy and overcast for the first time in weeks and months, after one of the longest dry spells in my history in the PNW. I spent the night seething mad and deeply upset at the clouds, which is not a thing I normally do.
The moral of the story is well known to landscape photographers: Look behind you.
Sometimes the best shot of the isn't the one you're planning on getting. Don't get tunnel vision or target fixation.
(*Technical detail for the aurora shot: White balance was set to about 3600k to cut light pollution and yellowing, which was done in camera and the only processing used. Astro/aurora photo purists will note that natural night sky white balance is usually 4200-4500k, especially for natural aurora colors, and that natural aurora colors tend to be more red and yellow. I've tried both white balance tunings, and the 4500k one still has a lot of blue and purple. I've discussed this with other aurora photographers and the auroras that night were from an unusually high velocity CME, which can explain the cooler colors. I prefer the 3600k image because I'm not a purist, and I prefer the cooler, more rainbow-like colors.)
posted by loquacious at 12:18 AM on September 18, 2017 [5 favorites]
Earlier this year I was out trying to get photos of the ISS/Zarya flying over for a star trail timelapse.
I'd been planning this shot for months, and because of the weather in the PNW I have maybe 1-2 clear nights a year when I'll get a good northerly track from ISS/Zarya at a good time shortly after sunset, where the track lines up with Polaris and the curved arc of a concrete structure. I did the math and I probably spent a solid 30-40 hours just nerding out in google maps, the photographers ephemeris and using a star chart site that lets you adjust the field of view, which is super handy for trying to pre-visualize night sky photography for a given wide angle lens.
Basically, not only do I need to have a pretty good idea which way to point my camera for astronomical/sidereal north, but a pretty precise idea of how the concrete structure doesn't point to geomagnetic or astronomical north at all. Because I'm trying to combine Polaris, ISS/Zarya and a near-field architectural structure it's not as simple as just pointing my camera at Polaris and opening the shutter.
Because once I'm out there I really can't see what the hell I'm doing. Operating the camera blows out my night vision, so I'm kind of working blind and from memory and notes. It took me about an hour of taking noisy high ISO, shorter length test shots and moving the tripod around until I was ok with the framing and ready for ISS to fly over.
Even using a plain optical viewfinder it's really difficult to frame up a shot with this kind of symmetry in the dark, and it's still not even close to perfect. But you can see how I was trying to get the arch of ISS/Zarya's curved track to match up with opposing the concrete curve. This is entirely uncropped and untuned. I'm aiming for in-frame perfection on composition and exposures because I'm a sick masochist like that.*
This is that shot. Please note the strange haze at the bottom near the concrete.
That was one the best of two shots like that where I captured ISS/Zarya. These two shots took about 5 hours of me sitting around in the cold doing damn near nothing for mind numbingly tedious amounts of time. Each shot is a 20 minute exposure, and takes 20+ minutes to process. The ISS/Zarya flyovers are about 90 minutes apart, so that leaves another 45-50 minutes doing nothing and not moving the camera until the next pass.
The whole time I'm getting these shots I'm getting some weird, hazy light pollution and I'm starting to get angry and pissed off at it, because I think the fog is rolling in down the Juan de Fuca and it's going to ruin months of planning and waiting for a clear night where everything finally lines up close enough. I even climb halfway up out of the concrete artillery bunkers and peek over the edge, and sure enough it looks like the fog rolling in, damnit.
So I get that last good shot linked above, I break down my tripod and stuff and pack everything back up on my bike. I'm cold, I'm exhausted and I'm actually feeling a little cranky and anticlimactic, because for whatever reason I don't think I got the shot as good as I wanted.
I'm climbing out of the bunker fully for the first time in 5+ hours and seeing the horizon for the first time, and it's like 1:30 in the morning...
No, it was a sudden G2 class storm and level 7 aurora and I'd just spent the last 5 hours ignoring it and getting mad at it. This shot is barely 30 minutes after the one linked above, right after the 20 minutes to process and about 10 minutes to pack up and climb out.
I was so tired I almost didn't my tripod and camera back up. And as I'm setting up I'm realizing the time and that I maybe have 30 minutes of aurora left because of how they work, and I running around cursing trying to get some decent framing of it because I'm kind of stuck on top of this concrete bunker that's an island in a sea of trees, and the next nearest vista is at least 20 minutes of wrestling with gear, biking, and setting back up again.
And I'm glad I did.
I've been chasing aurora alerts vs. overcast skies all year since then. The most recent burst hit my area right after the skies became cloudy and overcast for the first time in weeks and months, after one of the longest dry spells in my history in the PNW. I spent the night seething mad and deeply upset at the clouds, which is not a thing I normally do.
The moral of the story is well known to landscape photographers: Look behind you.
Sometimes the best shot of the isn't the one you're planning on getting. Don't get tunnel vision or target fixation.
(*Technical detail for the aurora shot: White balance was set to about 3600k to cut light pollution and yellowing, which was done in camera and the only processing used. Astro/aurora photo purists will note that natural night sky white balance is usually 4200-4500k, especially for natural aurora colors, and that natural aurora colors tend to be more red and yellow. I've tried both white balance tunings, and the 4500k one still has a lot of blue and purple. I've discussed this with other aurora photographers and the auroras that night were from an unusually high velocity CME, which can explain the cooler colors. I prefer the 3600k image because I'm not a purist, and I prefer the cooler, more rainbow-like colors.)
posted by loquacious at 12:18 AM on September 18, 2017 [5 favorites]
Being able to see the Emu seems like a low bar; I live 35 km from the center of a million-plus city and I can see the dust clouds just fine, yet when I drive out a few hundred more km into the real darkness it still blows my mind.
posted by memetoclast at 1:21 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by memetoclast at 1:21 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
This Is from Carta Valley, about 30 miles northwest of Del Rio, Texas. It's the red glow at the bottom left. The yellow light at the bottom right was the last of the sunset, probably, scattered through the ground haze, not visible to the naked eye, but I think I took this before 10 pm.. 5 minute exposure & it just begins to bring out the Milky Way, but if you dark-adapt your eyes out there during a new moon, you can see it pretty well.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:02 PM on September 18, 2017
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:02 PM on September 18, 2017
Living on the Eastern edge of a metropolis of around 4 million people, the thought of seeing the Pleiades without binoculars from home, much less something dimmer like a nebula is, well, laughable. Thanks to the humidity, being out on the beach doesn't even help all that much. Sure, it looks darker than everywhere else out over the ocean, but you still can't see very many stars.
Now, back when I lived in a city of around a quarter million, I could see space junk (and the ISS, of course), streaking overhead every evening. There was still a lot of light pollution, but it didn't almost completely wipe out the night sky. They finally started requiring full cutoff fixtures on all new construction a couple of years before I left. That was a difficult argument to win. A particularly well liked chain of gas stations/c stores was headquartered there and oh did they whine about the expense. I was shocked the city council didn't cave.
At first, they blatantly ignored the new law, installing the same old shitty fixtures they always had, until code enforcement refused to let them open their shiny new stores until they installed the correct lighting. Funny enough, they had them all replaced in under 36 hours. The benefits are legion, and go far beyond being able to see the stars at night.
posted by wierdo at 1:37 PM on September 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Now, back when I lived in a city of around a quarter million, I could see space junk (and the ISS, of course), streaking overhead every evening. There was still a lot of light pollution, but it didn't almost completely wipe out the night sky. They finally started requiring full cutoff fixtures on all new construction a couple of years before I left. That was a difficult argument to win. A particularly well liked chain of gas stations/c stores was headquartered there and oh did they whine about the expense. I was shocked the city council didn't cave.
At first, they blatantly ignored the new law, installing the same old shitty fixtures they always had, until code enforcement refused to let them open their shiny new stores until they installed the correct lighting. Funny enough, they had them all replaced in under 36 hours. The benefits are legion, and go far beyond being able to see the stars at night.
posted by wierdo at 1:37 PM on September 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
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