Town Turns Off the Lights To See the Stars 222
Hugh Pickens writes "Stargazing skies all over the world are disappearing, as the sky above New York City is Class 9 on the Bortle ranking and American suburban skies are typically Class 5, 6, or 7. But some places are making an effort to preserve their skywatching heritage as Exmoor National Park was granted International Dark-Sky Reserve status in November and people in the Exmoor town of Dulverton were challenged to switch off their lights as part of the BBC's Stargazing Live, demonstrating that you don't need special equipment to see the stars more clearly, if you have a decent pair of binoculars. 'The whole idea is to show that even a small town, which is still quite dark, can give off quite a lot of light,' says astronomer Mark Thompson. The event in Dulverton gained a lot of support from local residents and businesses. 'It needed a bit of organization to get everyone to say yes,' says town mayor Chris Nelder. 'We want people to just enjoy the night sky, to treasure the fact we have them and to look after them,' adds Claire O'Connor from Exmoor National Park Authority."
Sounds awesome! (Score:5, Insightful)
Nice, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
That's nice, but aren't the lights on for safety reasons? I mean, if they weren't serving any use, people wouldn't have them in the first place.
No, they're not. (Score:3, Insightful)
You see, light causes shadows. And your pedestrian walking home at night will be walking in the light, therefore night blinded by the light (this is why you can't see as many stars at night in a lit street as opposed to your sheltered garden) that illuminates you and makes the shadows deeper.
Meanwhile, the crafty mugger, hiding in the shadow, sees you well illuminated and highlighted out as a target and knows you cannot see them in the shadow, and jumps out on you and mugs you.
The burglar can also see better to use his lockpicks to break into your house.
Your "if they weren't serving any use, people wouldn't have them in the first place" is begging the question: did there have to be a use served for them to be left on 24/7?
Re:Nice, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
The really pathetic thing is that we can spend less on lighting, have more light, and see the stars if we use lights with reflector hoods that put the light where we want it rather than where we don't. They tend to be even less attractive than streetlights normally are but that's not a law of physics.
Re:worse than security theater? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've had a woman complain at me for hanging around at 6:30 in the evening in a well lit area, just because the sky was dark. If it was 9PM in summer (when it's still bright as day here in Scotland), I doubt she'd have said anything at all.
She kept saying things like "well, as a woman.. well, you know". And though I knew what she was trying to imply, I wanted her to come out and say it, so that she could hear how stupid it sounded. She never actually did get to the point though. If she was actually scared of me, she wouldn't have approached me and started chatting, she would have just called the Police.
Re:Cruise Ships (Score:5, Insightful)
Hrm. I bet if there were enough interest, a cruise line might be willing to make a "stargazers" cruise and set-up with some telescopes/binoculars and some good astronomy teachers to show you how and where to look and use the equipment, etc... And, of course, alcohol. That's a cruise I might be interested in...