Night sky sanctuary

At the Massacre Rim Dark Sky Sanctuary, the Milky Way galaxy shines bright enough at night to cast shadows. Richie Bednarski/Friends of Nevada Wilderness Jen Rovanpera drives through remote and rough parts of northwestern Nevada, about 6 miles outside the Oregon border. She is an archaeologist with the Bureau of Land Management. Today, she isn't looking for artifacts. She is showing off the vast area of "It's an immense area of darkness. The sanctuary is just a small fraction of that area," she says, pointing out across a lookout point just north of the site. Rovanpera recently worked with the "I think it promotes recognition of what an amazing resource it is, and also awareness that parts of the country were losing this opportunity to really enjoy the natural night sky," Rovanpera says. A look at the edge of Massacre Rim, from State Route 8A in northwestern Nevada. Noah Glick/KUNR Only 10 dark sky sanctuaries exist in the world, with four of them in the U.S. At more than 100,000 acres, Massacre Rim is the The nearest city to this remote area is Cedarville, Calif., a town of just 500 people. In the heart of the city center sits the Country Hearth Restaurant, where every morning, owner Janet Irene bakes fresh bread and makes jams and salsas from scratch. She is happy about the designation and says the dark skies in her community aren't always appreciated. "It's something that's always there and we've always taken for granted," she says. Irene has been in Cedarville since 19...

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Work on India’s first-ever night sky sanctuary in Ladakh will be over in month’s time: Jitendra Singh The night sky sanctuary will attract tourists from across the world over to picturesque Ladakh and also boost astro-tourism in the region, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said November 25, 2022 07:04 pm | Updated 07:04 pm IST - New Delhi The work on India’s first night sky sanctuary in Ladakh will be completed in over a month’s time, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday. “The work on India's first-ever night sky sanctuary, being set up by CSIR under Union Ministry of Science & Technology, in Ladakh’s Hanle is going on in full swing and shall be complete in over a month’s time,” said Mr. Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel. It will boost astro tourism in India and will be one of the world’s highest-located sites for optical, infra-red, and gamma-ray telescopes, a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry said. Friday’s meeting was a follow-up to the one held between the two in September this year, when the Union Minister had announced that the setting up of India’s first-ever "night sky sanctuary" in Ladakh. The two leaders also discussed a wide range of development related issues pertaining to the Union Territory, it said. Mr. Mathur apprised the Union Minister about the Rozgar Mela held on October 31, in Ladakh where the UT administration gave away appointment letters to around one thousand local youth, furthering the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ...

The view of the night sky from the Massacre Rim Wilderness Study Area is spectacular, but chances are very few people will ever make it to the 100,000-acre plot in Washoe County, Nevada, near the California and Oregon borders, to see it. The area has no hotels, electricity and requires visitors to bring everything they will need with them down long, rugged gravel roads, which boasts rattlesnakes, scorpions and almost no cell service. And that’s just fine. Massacre Rim A Dark Sky Sanctuary is a designation given to an area by the Massacre Rim easily meets that criteria. According to the Despite the fact that Massacre Rim is naturally dark, it did take some effort to earn the title. The designation was spearheaded by the conservation group Friends of Nevada Wilderness, reports Benjamin Spillman at the The scores were high enough to qualify the area for sanctuary status, which was granted in March. “This designation literally puts Washoe County on the Dark Sky map,” Shaaron Netherton, executive director of Friends of Nevada Wilderness, tells Spillman. “While all of the wilderness areas and wilderness study areas in Nevada are special remote places, the Massacre Rim WSA stands out because it is so far from any major populated areas, making light pollution there next to immeasurable,” Netherton says in a The designation comes with no legal obligations for the BLM and no requirements from people living nearby to keep the night sky dim. Noah Glick of Massacre Rim is just one of t...

A Welsh Island called Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island) became the first site in Europe to receive the designation of an “In a world that’s increasingly being polluted in every single way, having a pristine night sky at our doorstep still takes my breath away,” Mari Huws, who works as a warden on the island, tells the Guardian’s Steven Morris and Patrick Barkham. “It means that the night is alive—oyster catchers cry, Manx shearwaters swoop and owls glide. So much of the natural world is awake at night.” International Dark Sky Sanctuaries are found in areas with exceptionally low light pollution that are at least partially accessible to the public and are “legally protected for scientific, natural, educational, cultural, heritage and/or public enjoyment purposes,” per the IDA certifies sanctuaries following a “rigorous” application process. To apply, those on the island monitored the night sky for four years, writes Forbes’ Jamie Carter. Ynys Enlli lies two miles off the tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in northwest Wales. The island itself is off the grid, and its 550-foot mountain acts as a barrier to limit light from the mainland, per a Guardian. Nesting storm petrels, wood mice and a variety of moths also call the island home. Humans have inhabited Ynys Enlli for at least 4,000 years, per the Until recently, Ynys Enlli’s iconic 200-year-old lighthouse—the tallest square lighthouse in the U.K.—was a source of light pollution. The beacon’s white light was “catastrophic for birds and c...

Imagine being able to see billions of stars in the Milky Way, just with your naked eye, from your own backyard. It was once a common reality, until artificial lights from our growing cities started encroaching upon the night sky. Today, in order to see the Milky Way—and most constellations other than, say, the Big Dipper—you have to trek far, far away from humanity. The darker the sky, the better the view. The ultimate stargazing spots are fittingly called Dark Sky Places, designated pockets where light pollution is at a minimum and the stars can shine in all their glory. And the keeper of those Dark Sky Places is the International Dark Sky Association . What began in 1988 as a grassroots movement among astronomers in Tucson is now international, with170 certified Dark Sky Places spanning 21countries. Their mission is to protect natural landscapes, educate the public, and counteract the harmful effects of excessive “It messes with our circadian rhythms,” says Ryan Parker, secretary of the When the 24-hour cycle of light and dark is interrupted for wildlife, the consequences can be dire. Nocturnal animals confuse night and day and become easy prey. Birds that migrate or hunt by moonlight get thrown off course by artificial light, migrating too early or colliding into buildings . Beyond that, the impetus to preserve our dark skies should be pretty obvious: Just look up. An unpolluted sky is glorious, awe-inspiring even. And more and more communities are working to get offici...

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Image via John Meader/ Exceptionally dark skies are breathtaking. They are also becoming rare as result of light pollution. To help protect the spectacular dark skies at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine, this area was certified as a Dark Sky Sanctuary on May 8, 2020. This is the first such sanctuary designation in New England and along the entire eastern seaboard of the United States. The International Dark-Sky Association ( Time exposure photo of the night sky over the East Branch of the Penobscot River, at the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument near Patten, Maine. Image via Robert F. Bukaty/ AP/ Tim Hudson, superintendent at Katahdin Woods and Waters, commented on the This designation is the culmination of a long-term effort by a dedicated group of people and is an exciting event in the short history of the monument. Designation as a Dark Sky Sanctuary recognizes this incredible resource that does not [exist] in many places today in this country, much less anywhere else in New England. Experiencing the night skies here will take you back in time to the night skies first experienced by the Wabanaki 11,000 years ago and the many people who have followed in their footsteps since, including John James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, Theodore Roosevelt, and others. According to the The International Dark Sky Association is also encouraging everyone to take night sky measurements from their hometowns this ...

Imagine being able to see billions of stars in the Milky Way, just with your naked eye, from your own backyard. It was once a common reality, until artificial lights from our growing cities started encroaching upon the night sky. Today, in order to see the Milky Way—and most constellations other than, say, the Big Dipper—you have to trek far, far away from humanity. The darker the sky, the better the view. The ultimate stargazing spots are fittingly called Dark Sky Places, designated pockets where light pollution is at a minimum and the stars can shine in all their glory. And the keeper of those Dark Sky Places is the International Dark Sky Association . What began in 1988 as a grassroots movement among astronomers in Tucson is now international, with170 certified Dark Sky Places spanning 21countries. Their mission is to protect natural landscapes, educate the public, and counteract the harmful effects of excessive “It messes with our circadian rhythms,” says Ryan Parker, secretary of the When the 24-hour cycle of light and dark is interrupted for wildlife, the consequences can be dire. Nocturnal animals confuse night and day and become easy prey. Birds that migrate or hunt by moonlight get thrown off course by artificial light, migrating too early or colliding into buildings . Beyond that, the impetus to preserve our dark skies should be pretty obvious: Just look up. An unpolluted sky is glorious, awe-inspiring even. And more and more communities are working to get offici...

Work on India’s first-ever night sky sanctuary in Ladakh will be over in month’s time: Jitendra Singh The night sky sanctuary will attract tourists from across the world over to picturesque Ladakh and also boost astro-tourism in the region, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said November 25, 2022 07:04 pm | Updated 07:04 pm IST - New Delhi The work on India’s first night sky sanctuary in Ladakh will be completed in over a month’s time, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday. “The work on India's first-ever night sky sanctuary, being set up by CSIR under Union Ministry of Science & Technology, in Ladakh’s Hanle is going on in full swing and shall be complete in over a month’s time,” said Mr. Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel. It will boost astro tourism in India and will be one of the world’s highest-located sites for optical, infra-red, and gamma-ray telescopes, a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry said. Friday’s meeting was a follow-up to the one held between the two in September this year, when the Union Minister had announced that the setting up of India’s first-ever "night sky sanctuary" in Ladakh. The two leaders also discussed a wide range of development related issues pertaining to the Union Territory, it said. Mr. Mathur apprised the Union Minister about the Rozgar Mela held on October 31, in Ladakh where the UT administration gave away appointment letters to around one thousand local youth, furthering the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ...