Turn Out the Lights
We all know of Earth Day, but what about Dark Sky Week?
“I want people to be able to see the wonder of the night sky without the effects of light pollution,” says Jennifer Barlow, who came up with the idea of Dark Sky Week as a high school student in 2003. “The universe is our view into our past and our vision into the future … I want to help preserve its wonder.”
We’re in the midst of this celebration of darkness, which has grown into a global movement, leading to downward-facing streetlights, low-glare outdoor bulbs and a greater understanding of the value of darkness.
“Once a source of wonder — and one-half of the entire planet’s natural environment — the star-filled nights of just a few years ago are vanishing in a yellow haze,” warns the website for Dark Sky Week’s parent organization, the International Dark-Sky Association. “Human-produced light pollution not only mars our view of the stars; poor lighting threatens astronomy, disrupts ecosystems, affects human circadian rhythms, and wastes energy to the tune of $2.2 billion per year in the U.S. alone.” Learn more at www.darksky.org.
Find your piece of darkness and a view to the east before daybreak Friday and Saturday, when the waning crescent moon hovers within 10 degrees of dazzling Venus.
Tuesday’s new moon provides the backdrop for this week’s installment of the Globe At Night campaign, which fits hand-in-glove with Dark Sky Week. Your fisthand sightings help map what’s visible — and not — in the night sky all around the world. It’s easy to take part. Log onto www.globeatnight.org to download a star map of Leo the lion, see how many and which of the stars you can spot on a clear night, and return to the website (or the mobile app) to upload your results.
For parts of South Africa, Australia and Antarctica, Tuesday’s new moon lines up just right between the earth and sun to create an annular solar eclipse. In an annular eclipse, the moon is too far from earth to fully obscure the sun, instead covering only the corona and creating a ring of light outlining the darkened moon. While you’ll likely have to settle for on online view of this one, we’ll have front-row seat for October’s partial solar eclipse.