Looking Out for Looking Up:

Preserving and Enhancing the Adirondack Night Skies

ARC: 12th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks

Aileen O’Donoghue (SLU)Marc Staves

Adirondack Public Observatory

Wilderness

Wild

Something characterized by bewildering vastness

Occurring, growing, or living in a natural state; not domesticated, cultivated, or

tamed

Something characterized by bewildering vastness

Definitions …

Outdoor Lighting Purpose

illuminate what we need to see playing fields, streets, sidewalks, pedestrians, pets, thugs, etc.

warn of dangersOutdoor lighting is not to protect us from the dark

But that’s what much of it tries to do …

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

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

Light Pollution Glare

light that interferes with sight Light trespass

lighting others’ propertyEnergy Waste

illuminating undersides of airplanes Sky Glow

obscuring our view of the sky

Light Pollution Glare, Light Trespass, Sky

Glow

Glare 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

Visibility limit ≈ brightest object

101

…and populated.

Glare 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!

Park Street at Night: Glare

Direct light from acorn and drop-

down fixtures, and headlights very

bright.

Students seen as shadows against

glare

Street well lit!

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

Glare is Deadly

East Hampton, NY

John Jiras, 71, killed while crossing street from movie

theater to parking lothttp://www.danspapers.com/paper/archive.html

Reducing Glare Shielding lights

No light emitted above 20º below horizontal

Shielded street lights.

Full-Cutoff Lights International Dark-Sky Association (IDA)

Light TrespassHealthy, Safe, and Energy Efficient

Outdoor Lighting Act A7404 (Assembly), S4474 (Senate)

Retirement Home at night … and the neighbor's house

… 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 …”

Light Trespass Harmful to

Human health, linked to circadian rhythms (sleep) disruption increased cancers damage to children’s eyesight

Wildlife nocturnal animals insects birds

Health Effects Links to many health problems

appearing

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)

Wildlife Effects Research in

beginning stages“Even brief exposure

to bright light can cause some nocturnal

frogs to freeze for hours.”

Energy WasteEstimated energy usage & cost

Dark-to-Dawn lighting

Mercury Vapor

High Pressure Sodium

http://www.netacc.net/

~poulsen/lightcost.html

Sky Glow

Familiar North Country Scene

Village and city light domes obscure sky

Sky Glow Adirondacks in darkest part of eastern

US A resource to be preserved and cherished!

Ottawa

Syracuse Albany

Watertown

Tupper Lake

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

References International Dark Sky Association

http://www.darksky.org/index.htmlSELENE-NY

http://www.selene-ny.org/default.asp