Finding a Million-Star Hotel
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Bob Mizon Finding a Million-Star Hotel An Astro-Tourist’s Guide to Dark Sky Places Patrick Mooreʼs Practical Astronomy Series The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/3192 Finding a Million-Star Hotel An Astro-Tourist’s Guide to Dark Sky Places Bob Mizon Bob Mizon Wimborne , Dorset , UK ISSN 1431-9756 ISSN 2197-6562 (electronic) The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series ISBN 978-3-319-33854-5 ISBN 978-3-319-33855-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-33855-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016942567 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland Stargazing gives us access to orders of events, and scales of time and space, which are beyond our capacity to imagine. –Robert Macfarlane: The Wild Places , Granta Publications, 2007 Pref ace London’s Underground may not be the most suitable place for contemplating the universe, but on a journey in the late 1990s from Green Park Underground station to London Waterloo, my eye was caught by a car card, one of those small advertise- ments that run along the carriages below the roof line. Unusually, it advertised stargazing holidays. Its message: that jaded Londoners could seek rest and relax- ation beneath the star-strewn night skies of Pembrokeshire , southwest Wales, away from the bustle and the light pollution of the big city. I spent my childhood in East London in the 1950s, a time of post-war rationing and austerity. Road lights were rather sparse and fairly dim and went off in the late evening. During the winter, when the nights were long and I could play outside with friends before bedtime, I noticed the stars and planets in the sky from the relative darkness between the lights. My interest in astronomy was sparked. When I dared to stay out late, risking my mother’s wrath, I would wait for the lights to go off and see just what the universe had to offer, marveling at its shifting lights and star pat- terns, before going home to face the music. Then came the decades of intensive lighting, most of it poorly directed, shining outwards and upwards. On all night, it erased the starry scene that had formed part of my childhood. Now, in the twenty-first century, the vast majority of urban children have had no experience of the real night sky. For many, their evening world has shrunk to the size of a small screen or two in a bedroom at home. Of course, they can use their computers to call up, should they wish to, images of startling beauty taken by today’s giant telescopes or by amateur astronomers with the latest cameras and image processing programs. Here is a sad irony of modern life. Most people in the developed world, the town and city dwellers, have lost sight of the near and far vii viii Preface Fig. 1 “Half the park is after dark.” (Photo courtesy Dr. Tyler Nordgren) universe from their gardens and parks because so much lighting now shines where it is not needed, while other technologies, those of spacecraft and state-of-the-art optics, can show them in their own homes what the universe looks like, on televi- sions, tablets, laptops, and telephones. The immediacy and reality of the universe have receded into the pixels. Perhaps we have never really lost our desire to see for ourselves what’s up there. Recently, astronomy clubs and courses have seen a marked increase in attendance. Preface ix Outdoor observing sessions attract ever greater numbers of hopeful stargazers. Teachers know that, of all their science topics, space is the one that is likely to hold the attention of their classes. People are seeing more stars in cities, thanks to the work of campaigners for better directed lighting, and the lighting industry has responded over the years with increasing numbers of downward-directed lamps on our streets. The trickle of astro-tourists from urban areas has become a stream, though not yet a torrent. Many hotels and campsites and indeed whole counties, national parks, and nature reserves now advertise and protect their stars. For example, national parks in the United States have published striking posters (Fig. 1) designed by Dr. Tyler Nordgren , telling us that “Half the park is after dark”.1 Like so many other such areas, Maine ’s Acadia National Park now holds star parties, where volunteer local astronomers and park rangers guide visitors through the constellations and zoom in on planets and other night sky wonders from Cadillac Mountain. That single Underground car card, with its Welsh stars, nowadays has competi- tion. Ever more numerous ads for breaks beneath the stars appear in newspapers, on the Internet, in travel magazines, and cruise line leaflets. This book will examine a new tide of discovery, as urbanites reconnect with their ancient heritage above. Finding a Million-Star Hotel is aimed primarily at those with limited possibilities for astronomy, who seek out the thrill of the stars they cannot see at home. It will also look to a future when the real night sky will be readily accessible even from urban areas, just as images of the Crab Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy can nowadays be revealed by a quick web search. Wimborne, UK Bob Mizon 1 www.ecology.com/2013/05/10/national-park-service-posters . Acknowledgments For all their help and encouragement in preparing this book, I thank numerous members of the British Astronomical Association and its Commission for Dark Skies; all the generous and talented astrophotographers and amateur astronomers in the United Kingdom and the United States who supplied images and related their experiences; the tourist offices, national parks, and hotel and campsite owners who answered inquiries and sent material; and the dedicated staff of Southmead Hospital in Bristol and the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, without whose skill and dedication this book would certainly never have been written. My special thanks to my wife Pam for her enthusiastic support. xi Contents 1 What Are Dark Sky Places? ..................................................................... 1 Zoos for Stars .............................................................................................. 1 The IDA’s IDSP Scheme ............................................................................. 7 The Bortle Scale .......................................................................................... 9 The Shock of the Milky Way ...................................................................... 17 Your Dark Sky Place ................................................................................... 21 2 Invasion of the Townies ............................................................................. 25 Introduction ................................................................................................. 25 One Small Step: And Many More ............................................................... 26 “Visit Our Stars” ......................................................................................... 29 3 Seeking Out the Real Night Sky .............................................................. 33 General Information .................................................................................... 33 Safety Concerns .......................................................................................... 34 Maps of Darkness ....................................................................................... 35 Dark Sky Places in the United Kingdom .................................................... 35 Dark Sky Places in the United States .......................................................... 89 European Dark Sky Sites ............................................................................ 133 Cyprus ......................................................................................................... 138 Where Are the World’s Darkest Skies? ....................................................... 152 4 What’s in the Sky? .................................................................................... 155 Our Daystar: The Sun and Safe Observing ................................................. 158 Nighttime Astronomy: Wonders Without End ............................................ 170 Seasonal Star Charts ..................................................................................