lights out!

Night, or what is left of it,
in North America.

From parking lots to ball diamonds to our own backyards, we have lit up our nights to the point that we don't really have "night" anymore.  Light seemed like a good idea back when we lived around campfires, but it turns out there really is too much of a good thing.  Our relunctance to deal with the dark has been proven to have a negative impact not just on backyard stargazers and professional astronomers, but on wildlife , and on our own health and safety.  From baby sea turtles crawling away from the ocean instead of into it (due to nearby town lights), to various cancers (due to a decrease in the production of melatonin when exposed to nighttime lights), to safety issues caused by outdoor lights that create glare rather than security, night sky pollution is a serious hazard!  For more information on this topic, and to learn how you can use light without reducing your safety or endangering your health or that of wildlife, check out the website of the International Dark Sky Association, http://www.darksky.org/.

Typical mercury "security"
light that provides
more glare than security.

This organization does not recommend simply turning lights off and living in the dark, but using lights WISELY -- as needed, where needed, and most importantly, with light fixtures that put light where it is needed, rather than shooting it off into the sky (or worse, into your eyes, which keeps you from seeing the very dangers you are trying to expose).  The "frequently asked questions" page is a good starting point. So as always, turn off lights where you can. But where you can't, use the right light.

enjoy that night sky!

Early winter is a fantastic time for viewing the night sky! It gets dark early enough to view the stars at a reasonable hour (admittedly, some people think midnight and later is still “reasonable":), but it isn’t as bone-chilling cold as those January nights are likely to be. There are many things to watch for, like meteor showers, northern lights (usually visible in mid-Michigan a few times a year), the International Space Station orbiting overhead, and of course, good old “star gazing.”


For some assistance in locating objects in the night sky, check out these links:

1) To find out when the space station will be visible, click on the nearest Michigan city on this NASA website: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/region.cgi?country=United_States®ion=Michigan It will show how many degrees above the horizon the station will be visible, and from which direction it will enter and leave your view.

2) For SERIOUS northern lights enthusiasts, a move to the far north is warranted. But for Michigan folk, this site will let you know when there is a reasonable chance of a local show: http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/
If the forecast number is “4” or higher, we have a shot at seeing the northern lights even this far south!

3) Both of these sites provide good star and planet gazing information, from general “what’s going on this week” to more detailed astronomical highlights: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/  http://stardate.org/

4) And to find out exactly when it might get dark enough to SEE the stars, the U.S. Navy has this very user-friendly site to find out when the sun and moon rise and set:  http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications

The Memory of Stars

One of the things I love most about summer is spending some quality time "Up North" with my family. While we enjoy many different destination, we especially love Mackinac Island (my wife and I met while working for the State Park there in college). Perhaps the most magical time of day on Mackinac is when the last ferry leaves for the night and the throngs of tourists head home. Most people retreat indoors and the only sounds you hear are the clip-clop of horses hooves and the bell ringing on the buoy in the Straits. The best nighttime show, however, is up at Fort Holmes. Here, on the highest point of the Island, you can climb the embankment and lie with your friends on top of the wooden entranceway. On a clear night, the stars are truly astounding! Billions of tiny dots of light twinkle in the dark night sky. Your imagination follows the bright path of the milky way as it spirals through the sky. Falling stars, satellites, and sometimes even the space station all travel across your view. With a pair of binoculars, your view deepens and you can even pick out some of Jupiter's moons. And if you're really lucky, the shifting hues of the Aurora Borealis will put on a spectacular show. When I return to Midland or head to an even larger city, so much of the night sky magic is hidden from view. Lights along streets and in parking lots, office buildings and private homes illuminate our world so completely, we hardly know what it means to walk it the dark. I love attending a Loons game, but the glow from the stadium can be seen for miles around. Technically, all this illumination is called Light Pollution, and it's become a major problem in our modern society. The rhythm of nature (including human nature) depends on cycles of light and dark for feeding, sleep, migration, reproduction and more. Many animals are inexplicably drawn to artificial sources of light and smack into office buildings and cell phone towers. Others scavenge insects under the glow of streetlamps and become easy prey for other animals or automobiles. And all that extra light escaping into the sky is a big waste of energy. This June, the American Medical Association (AMA), issued a series of resolutions in support of energy efficient lighting technology. They read: RESOLVED That our AMA advocate that all future outdoor lighting be of energy efficient designs to reduce waste of energy and production of greenhouse gasses that result from this wasted energy use, and be it further

RESOLVED That our AMA develop and enact a policy that supports light pollution reduction efforts and glare reduction efforts at both the national and state levels; and be it further

RESOLVED That our AMA support that all future streetlights will be of a fully shielded design or similar non-glare design to improve the safety of our roadways for all, but especially vision impaired and older drivers.

For more information about the importance of a more natural night sky, visit the website of the International Dark Sky Association. And when you go to bed, don't forget to turn off the lights!