1 / 24

Looking Out for Looking Up:

ARC: 12 th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks. Aileen O’Donoghue (SLU) Marc Staves Adirondack Public Observatory. Looking Out for Looking Up:. Preserving and Enhancing the Adirondack Night Skies. Wilderness. Definitions …. Wild.

drea
Télécharger la présentation

Looking Out for Looking Up:

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. ARC: 12th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks Aileen O’Donoghue (SLU) Marc Staves Adirondack Public Observatory Looking Out for Looking Up: Preserving and Enhancing the Adirondack Night Skies

  2. Wilderness Definitions … Wild Occurring, growing, or living in a natural state; not domesticated, cultivated, or tamed Something characterized by bewildering vastness Something characterized by bewildering vastness The wilderness doesn’t stop at the treetops!

  3. Outdoor Lighting • Purpose • illuminate what we need to see • playing fields, streets, sidewalks, pedestrians, pets, thugs, etc. • warn of dangers Outdoor lighting is not to protect us from the dark But that’s what much of it tries to do …

  4. Outdoor Lighting • Lighting Assumptions • More light, brighter light is better and safer • Everyone wants more light • lighting up my neighborhood is OK • Light always has a positive effect • Darkness is unimportant ... and it's scary!!

  5. Lighting & Safety Studies • No significant reduction in crime with lighting (eg. US Dep’t of Justice cf. www.darksky.org/infoshts/is063.html) • “Dark Campus Policies” have reduced vandalism at some schools (http://www.darksky.org/infoshts/is054.html) • Lights help criminals see victims, goods • Lights in typically dark areas attract attention so crimes can be stopped

  6. Light Pollution Glare • light that interferes with sight • Light trespass • lighting others’ property • Energy Waste • illuminating undersides of airplanes • Sky Glow • obscuring our view of the sky

  7. Light Pollution • Glare, Light Trespass, Sky Glow

  8. Glare 1 Visibility limit ≈ brightest object 10 • Eye brightness range of about 1 million … • Iris size adjusts to light levels • Eye switches from cone to rod cells • rods more sensitive to low light … “averted vision.” • rods adjust to light level … “dark adaption.” • Eye can discern details over 10:1 brightness variation in a single scene

  9. Glare …and populated. • Direct bright light that reduces the eye’s ability to see dimly illuminated objects. • Bright lights vs. pedestrians, animals Light fixture easy to see! Shadow VERY dark!

  10. Park Street at Night: Glare Direct light from acorn and drop-down fixtures, and headlights very bright. Street well lit! Students seen as shadows against glare

  11. Glare “If unshielded or poorly-aimed lights are in view of drivers, then the lights set the upper brightness range - things 10 times less bright like potholes, trees or pedestrians become featureless.” • Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

  12. Glare is Deadly East Hampton, NY John Jiras, 71, killed while crossing street from movie theater to parking lot http://www.danspapers.com/paper/archive.html

  13. Reducing Glare Shielded street lights. • Shielding lights • No light emitted above 20º below horizontal

  14. Full-Cutoff Lights • International Dark-Sky Association (IDA)

  15. Light Trespass Healthy, Safe, and Energy Efficient Outdoor Lighting Act A7404 (Assembly), S4474 (Senate) … placement of a light in “a manner whereby illumination or glare is cast unnecessarily on the property of another with the effect of reducing privacy, limiting use or enjoyment, hindering sleep and/or detracting from the appearance of the illuminated property …” Retirement Home at night … and the neighbor's house

  16. Light Trespass • Harmful to • Human health, linked to • circadian rhythms (sleep) disruption • increased cancers • damage to children’s eyesight • Wildlife • nocturnal animals • insects • birds

  17. Health Effects • Links to many health problems appearing

  18. Wildlife Effects • Attraction, fixation & repulsion • baby turtles in Florida head toward highway instead of ocean • Disorientation • birds fly into buildings, towers • disoriented animals use extra energy • Disruption of biological rhythms • Robins in UK singing at night • disturbs egg-laying in moths (http://www.darksky.org/infoshts/pdf/is187.pdf)

  19. Wildlife Effects Research in beginning stages “Even brief exposure to bright light can cause some nocturnal frogs to freeze for hours.”

  20. Energy Waste High Pressure Sodium Estimated energy usage & cost Dark-to-Dawn lighting Mercury Vapor http://www.netacc.net/~poulsen/lightcost.html

  21. Sky Glow • Village and city light domes obscure sky Familiar North Country Scene

  22. Sky Glow Tupper Lake • Adirondacks in darkest part of eastern US • A resource to be preserved and cherished! Ottawa Watertown Syracuse Albany

  23. Dark Sky Preserves “Healthy, Safe and Energy Efficient Outdoor Lighting Act” “… areas of the state which are especially suitable for astronomical observations and/or which provide, due to their darkness, nocturnal benefits to flora and fauna, or to citizens desiring views of unpolluted or relatively unpolluted night skies” … sounds like Adirondack Park

  24. References • International Dark Sky Association • http://www.darksky.org/index.html • SELENE-NY • http://www.selene-ny.org/default.asp

More Related