Saving the Night

This show is an excellent way to help promote proper lighting techniques, in addition to, educating the general public on the topic of light pollution.

The original show was written and narrated by David H. Levy with soundtrack by Miramar & Future Music recording artist, Jonn Serrie, produced by Southeastern Planetarium Association (SEPA), George Fleenor, President GeoGraphics Imaging & Consulting, www.geographicsimaging.com , artwork by Edwin William Faughn of Memphis, Tennessee and additional visuals from the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) slide archives. Funded by IDA members: Magnaray International (Sarasota Florida lighting company) and Meade Instruments Corporation. Original program length: 11 minutes.

Staff of The Lawrence Hall of Science Holt Planetarium modified the show to add audience participation activities. The modified show script is below, followed by the original show script (without audience activities).

MODIFIED SHOW SCRIPT (with activities added):

Saving the Night

By David H. Levy, produced by the Southeastern Planetarium Association

Revised by Toshi Komatsu (Holt Planetarium, Lawrence Hall of Science)

Introduction

Hello and welcome to our planetarium. Today’s show is called “Saving the Night”, and is about light pollution. Have any of you ever heard of light pollution? What is light pollution? [Take any answers.] Light pollution is a growing problem worldwide, and not just one for astronomers. We’ll be talking about some of problems with light pollution and how you can help.

Fade off daylight, turn on stars, dim cove lights off.

How dark is your sky? Can you see the Milky Way? Can you see the thousands of stars that the ancients did? The ancient Greeks used the stars to test their eyesight. Let’s now use them to test our skies. Can anyone find the Little Dipper? It may help to find the Big Dipper first. [Have audience find Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.]

Now, let’s take a look at the area surrounding the cup of the Little Dipper. Using the stars at the end of the cup of the Little Dipper, they point to two faint stars below the cup and one extremely faint star above the cup. [Point these out.] If you can see those first two, you have pretty dark skies. If you can that last, extremely faint star, then you not only have dark skies, but incredibly good eyes!

Light Pollution

Far away in space, a star has reached the end of its lifetime. [Point out Vega or any other blue-white star.] It might look like this a little closer up:

[TOP: Blue Giant star]

It has used up its hydrogen, its helium, its carbon, and finally its silicon and iron. In less than a second its core collapses,

Flash main light

sending the rest of the star’s matter hurtling into space in the awesome explosion of a supernova.

[TOP: Supernova]

As the exploding star shines with the brightness of a hundred billion suns, it sprays into space carbon and other elements that are the raw materials of life in the Universe. Racing across the heavens at 186,000 miles per second, its light cruises through the void, passing other galaxies along the way.

[TOP: Galaxy cluster]

A tiny fraction of the supernova’s light finds its way into our own galaxy,

[TOP: Milky Way]

to our own solar system, past the outer planets. Finally, after a 15-million year voyage, a small amount of the supernova’s light reaches Earth to tell its ancient story.

But few will witness this cosmic light show. As the supernova’s light reaches us

Cove lights at max to show polluted sky.

[SIDE: City Pan]

it is drowned in a sea of light pollution, light of our own making, which lights up the sky and robs all of us, our view of the heavens.

Imagine a time, not too long ago, when you could stand in the middle of any city, look up, and easily see the stars.

[SIDE: Suburb Pan]

Lower cove lights to show less polluted sky.

Even in the suburbs, farther away from the city lights, you could still view the Milky Way, and even the more distant Andromeda Galaxy. This is where it is [point out the location of the Andromeda Galaxy.], and this is what it looks like on a clear, dark night.

[TOP: Andromeda – naked-eye view]

Imagine – the human eye, unaided by telescope or binoculars could see something more than two million light years away, the combined light of some 200 billion suns racing across space for 2 million years to appear in Earth’s sky as a faint fuzzy glow! Here’s a view from the Hubble Space Telescope.

[TOP: Andromeda galaxy]

In the early 1800’s the night sky was almost as viewable by city dwellers as by people in the country.

[SIDE: 1800’s Town]

A century later, civilization had grown, but the sky was still widely accessible.

[SIDE: 1900’s Town]

Now light pollution has increased so much that city and suburb dwellers can no longer appreciate the night.

[SIDE: 2000 Town]

Wasted Light

[SIDE: 2 Billion Dollars (word)]

Two BILLION dollars a year! According to Dr. David Crawford of the International Dark-Sky Association, that’s how much Americans spend for energy that does nothing but lights up the underbellies of birds, airplanes and clouds.

[TOP: U.S. at night]

America is not alone.

[TOP: World at night]

Around the world consumers in industry and government, and by ordinary homeowners just trying to protect their back yards, spend billions of dollars – and it is all wasted. The result is the squandering of one of Nature’s greatest gifts to us – the majesty of the night sky.

Light that is projected into the sky does nothing but illuminate the sky.

[SIDE: Billboard]

We’re told that lighting makes our streets safer.

[SIDE: Street lights]

The truth is that while well designed lighting can improve safety, poorly designed fixtures that hinder safety light many streets.

Glare

The problem with these lights can be summed up in a single word: GLARE.

[SIDE: Glare (word)]

Glare makes you shade your eyes to block light fixtures that make it hard to see what they are supposed to be lighting. Such fixtures are often installed as security lights on private homes.

[SIDE: Glare example]

[DEMONSTRATION:]

Let’s try an experiment. I’m going to turn on a couple of lights which we will pretend are stars. [Turn on glare lights.] Now, next to each of these stars is a little planet. Can you see the planet? What can you do to find the planet? [Let audience try awhile, then explain you need to block the light source with your thumb or hand.]

Now, why couldn’t you find the planet before? [Too much glare.] Was it because the planet wasn’t lit up at all? [No.] Let’s try a different experiment, one much closer to home.

One evening when the security light is on, stand next to your house in the dark just next to where the light is shining.

[SIDE: Security lamp 1]

Have some friends walk down the sidewalk as you stand perfectly still. Can your friends see you? If not, chances are it’s because of the great contrast between the glare of the light, and the darkness next to it. And if your friends can’t see you, they certainly aren’t going to see the crook that is using the glare of the security light to hide his activities. Now have your friends do the same thing while using a hand to block the glare.

[SIDE: Security lamp 2]

There is a big difference.

Are you bothered at night because your neighbor’s light, or the street light, shines in your window?

[SIDE: Light trespass 1]

That’s called “light trespass”. In Australia, it is illegal to shine a light that bothers a neighbor in this way, and communities throughout the United States and Canada are trying to solve the problem of light pollution though legislation.

[SIDE: Light trespass 2]

How could this light be made better? [Accept any answers.]

Voluntarily changing your lights at home may help solve the problem more quickly. Re-aiming your lights and controlling them with motion detectors greatly reduces glare in addition to the threat to would-be thieves.

[TOP: Floodlight 1]

[TOP: Floodlight 2]

Startling a thief is a better deterrent than a continually shining light.

There are good reasons to light your house at night, but the light should be of a type that does not produce glare.

Outdoor lights are supposed to improve visibility, and you can see better if the light doesn’t glare. Most lights have another problem – they shine everywhere! They light up our yard and the street, but they also shine in your neighbor’s window and light up the sky.

[SIDE: House lighting]

[AUDIENCE ACTIVITY PART 1]

Let’s conduct another experiment. I have some Maglite flashlights that we are going to use as model street lamps.

Distribute Maglites to volunteers and try to equally space them out. There are two bright ones (with blue tape to distinguish them) – try to have them on opposite sides of the planetarium. Use at least one bright flashlight. When you distribute them, unscrew the top (head). Affix the head on the bottom of the flashlight (candle mode) and place the bulb guard (plastic tube) in position before handing lights to the audience.

You’ll notice that the sky looks terrible now. Can you find the Little Dipper? Can you find where the Andromeda Galaxy should be? [No.] The light from your “lamps” shines everywhere and only the brightest stars show up. Does it help to turn your lamp away from the sky? [Not really.] Now, let’s stand the lamp on the ground in front of you. What do you notice about the area DIRECTLY below the light? [It’s dark!] What about the brighter lamp(s)? [Still dark.] Do you think this light really increases safety then? [No!]

In fact, there was a recent study funded by the California Energy Commission1 that found preliminarily that higher lighting levels are one of the areas where people are least likely to say, “It feels safe”. In fact, over-lighting causes glare dangerous to drivers because it creates “night blindness”. Among other hazards, this may prevent drivers from seeing pedestrians. They also rated three parking lots for lighting and safety, and the one with highest brightness got the worst rating. The one with the least brightness got the best rating.

Full Cutoff Lighting

A light fixture should shine only where it’s needed, and lighting engineers have designed inexpensive fixtures to ensure this. They’re called “full cutoff” fixtures.

[SIDE: Full cutoff example]

This means that the light fixture is designed so that it focuses the beam where it’s supposed to go. Let’s see if we can make some efficient cutoff shields for our lamps.

[AUDIENCE ACTIVITY PART 2]

Distribute shields to volunteers. Encourage them to try different sizes and different proximities to the light source. They should find that when placed just right, they can cutoff the light so it does not shine above the horizon. Also, the shields can be placed in such a way as to illuminate the area directly below the light. Take a few minutes to discuss the results. Then collect all but one bright and one less bright. Have volunteers cutoff these two and keep them cutoff to discuss the next paragraph.

The result is an increase in brightness where the light is needed. Our cities are safer with these light fixtures, and he night sky is darker. After all, crimes are committed at street level, not 20 feet in the air. With full cutoff lights, everybody wins. [Collect the remaining Maglites.]

In July of 2001, Calgary, the self-proclaimed “Energy Capital of Canada”, approved funding to retrofit all their residential streetlights from 200-watt drop-dish fixtures to 100-watt, flat-lens full cutoff fixtures.2 Alberta, like California, recently deregulated its power industry, and energy costs have risen considerably.

This initiative is unique among recent light pollution initiatives since all the lights are being replaced at once. Usually, lights are replaced gradually, as light malfunction. This move is an investment for the future. Government officials estimate saving $1.4 million US dollars per year with the new lights. This means they expect to recoup the project’s cost of $5.2 million in only 6.5 years.

Lighting Types

There are several kinds of outdoor lights. A generation ago, big blue-white Mercury Vapor lights lit the world with awful glare.

[SIDE: Mercury vapor lights]

Today, the old lights are being replaced with Sodium lights of which there are two kinds, high pressure and low pressure.

[SIDE: Sodium lights]

Although high-pressure sodium lamps are most common for street lighting today, low-pressure sodium lights are by far the most energy efficient lights.

[SIDE: Low pressure fixture]

They use less than half the energy of other popular lighting sources, and they never fade with time. Their only drawback is the deep yellow glow they cast. That makes it difficult to tell what color you car is! This problem is solved by slightly modifying the light source. The color balance is then restored so the cars and people are more accurately revealed.

Combating Light Pollution

Since the late 1980’s professional and amateur astronomers, lighting engineers, and others have joined together in the International Dark-Sky Association.

[SIDE: IDA]

Striving to bring the message of light pollution to a wider audience, IDA goals are not less light but safer, more intelligent light. Progress is being made in small steps, in countries, states, cities, classrooms and even in planetariums. [Cove lights off.]

It is a message that would have satisfied one particular sky watcher, comet discoverer Leslie Peltier of Ohio.

[SIDE: Leslie Peltier]

In 1960 he revisited the site of his old, dark, farm observatory.

[SIDE: Peltier Pan]

When he got there, he was utterly bewildered.

Cove lights up max.

Instead of the sublime beauty of the stars, the blinding blue-white glare of a powerful, nearby light flooded the area. Five other lights on other farms added to the brightness.

[SIDE: Lamp add-ons]

He wrote, “The moon and the stars no longer come to the farm. The farmer has exchanged his birthright in them for the wattage of his all-night sun. His children will never know the blessed dark of night.”

[SIDE: Peltier quote]

A recent study in 2001 by Italian and American researchers reveals that about two-thirds of the world’s population – and 99% of people living in the U.S. – endures some degree of light pollution.3 More than two-thirds of Americans and half of all Europeans can no longer discern the Milky Way with the unaided eye even on clear nights.

OPTIONAL: As time and the group allows, discuss what we as individuals can do to limit light pollution.

Decades have passed since Leslie Peltier’s visit to the farm that saw no night. With every day that passes, is it not too much to hope that the night sky will return to the farm, to the desert, and to the forest? Can we hope also that the night sky, the birthright of everyone, can even return to the cities and the suburbs? If that happens, then the dawn of a new era will have a happy dusk indeed.

[SIDE: Forest pan]

[SIDE: Credit slides (x2)]

Thank you for coming to our planetarium today. Clear DARK skies!

ORIGINAL SCRIPT:

(Stars on)

Title (1)

(Coves dim slow)

Blue Giant star (2)

Far away in space, a star has reached the end of its lifetime. It has used up its hydrogen, its helium, its carbon, and finally its silicon and iron. In less than a second its core collapses, sending the rest of the star's matter hurtling into space in the awesome explosion of a supernova.

Far away in space, a star has reached the end of its lifetime. It has used up its hydrogen, its helium, its carbon, and finally its silicon and iron. In less than a second its core collapses, sending the rest of the star's matter hurtling into space in the awesome explosion of a supernova.

Super Nova(3)

(Your special effect or video)

(stars off)

Galaxy Cluster (4)

(Your Buhl lens)

As the exploding star shines with the brightness of a hundred billion suns, it sprays into space carbon and other elements that are the raw materials of life in the Universe. Racing across the heavens at 186,000 miles per second, its light cruises through the void, passing other galaxies along the way.

Milky Way (5)

(stars on)

A tiny fraction of the supernova's light finds its way into our own galaxy, to our own solar system, past the outer planets.

(Your planet Zooms or video)

Finally, after a 15-million year voyage, a small amount of the supernova's light reaches Earth to tell its ancient story.

But few will witness this cosmic light show. As the supernova's light reaches us it is drowned in a sea of light pollution, light of our own making, which lights up the sky and robs all of us, our view of the heavens.

City Pan (6-9)

(Adjust cove brightness to show polluted sky)

Imagine a time, not too long ago, when you could stand in the middle of any city, look up, and easily see the stars.

Suburb Pan

(10-12)

(Adjust cove brightness to show less-polluted sky)

Even in the suburbs, farther away from the city lights, you could still view the Milky Way, and even the more distant Andromeda galaxy.

(Pt. Andromeda)

Andromeda Naked eye view (13)

Imagine - the human eye, unaided by telescope or binoculars could see something more than two million light years away, the combined light of some 200 billion suns racing across space for 2 million years to appear in Earth's sky as a faint fuzzy glow!

1800's Lamp EV#1 (14)

1800's Town (15)

In the early 1800's, the night sky was almost as viewable by city dwellers as by people in the country.

1900's Town (16)

A century later, civilization had grown, but the sky was still widely accessible.

2000 Town (17)

Now light pollution has increased so much that city and suburb dwellers can no longer appreciate the night.

1900's Lamp

EV#2 (18)

Current Lamp

EV#3 (19)

2 Billion Dollars (wd) (20)

Two BILLION dollars a year!

US at night (21)

According to Dr. David Crawford of the International Dark Sky Association, that's how much Americans spend for energy that does nothing but light up the underbellies of birds, airplanes and clouds.

World at night (22)

America is not alone. Around the world consumers in industry and government, and by ordinary homeowners just trying to protect their back yards, spend billions of dollars -- and it is all wasted. The result is the squandering of one of Nature's greatest gifts to us -- the majesty of the night sky.

Billboard (23)

Light that is projected into the sky does nothing but illuminate the sky. We're told that lighting makes our streets safer.

Street Lights (24)

The truth is that while well designed lighting can improve safety, poorly designed fixtures that hinder safety light many streets.

The problem with these lights can be summed up in a single word: GLARE.

GlARE (wd) (25)

Glare makes you shade your eyes to block light fixtures that make it hard to see what they are supposed to be lighting.

Glare example (26)

Such fixtures are often installed as security lights on private homes. To see if they're any good, try an experiment.

Security lamp 1 (27)

One evening when the security light is on, stand next to your house in the dark just next to where the light is shining. Have some friends walk down the sidewalk as you stand perfectly still. Can your friends see you? If not, chances are it's because of the great contrast between the glare of the light, and the darkness next to it. And if your friends can't see you, they certainly aren't going to see the crook that is using the glare of the security light to hide his activities. Now have your friends do the same thing while using a hand to block the glare. There is a big difference.

Security lamp 2 (28)

Light trespass #1 (29)

Are you bothered at night because your neighbor's light, or the street light, shines in your window? That's called "light trespass."

Light trespass #2 (30)

In Australia, it is illegal to shine a light that bothers a neighbor in this way, and communities throughout the United States and Canada are trying to solve the problem of light pollution through legislation.

Flood Light #1 (31)

Voluntarily changing your lights at home may help solve the problem more quickly.

Flood Light #2 (32)

Re-aiming your lights and controlling them with motion detectors greatly reduces glare in addition to the threat of would be thieves. Startling a thief is a better deterrent than a continual shining light.

House lighting (33)

There are good reasons to light your house at night, but the light should be of a type that does not produce glare. Outdoor lights are supposed to improve visibility, and you can see better if the light doesn't glare. Most lights have another problem- they shine everywhere! They light up your yard and the street, but they also shine in your neighbor's window and light up the sky. A light fixture should shine only where it's needed, and lighting engineers have designed inexpensive fixtures to ensure this.

Full-cut-off (wd) (34)

They're called "full cutoff" fixtures. This means that the light fixture is designed so that it focuses the beam where it's supposed to go. The result is an increase in brightness where the light is needed.

Full-cut-off (ex) (35)

Our cities are safer with these light fixtures, and the night sky is darker. After all, crimes are committed at street level, not 20 feet in the air. With full cutoff lights, everybody wins.

Mercury Vapor lights (36)

There are several kinds of outdoor lights. A generation ago, big blue-white Mercury Vapor lamps lit the world with awful glare.

Sodium lights (37)

Today, the old lights are being replaced with Sodium lights of which there are two kinds, high pressure and low pressure.

High Pressure (wd) (38)

Although high-pressure sodium lamps are most common for street lighting today, low-pressure sodium lights are by far the most energy efficient lights.

Low Pressure (wd) (39)

They use less than half the energy of other popular lighting sources, and they never fade with time. Their only drawback is the deep yellow glow they cast. That makes it difficult to tell what color your car is!

Low Pressure fixture (40)

This problem is solved by slightly modifying the light source. The color balance is then restored so the cars and people are more accurately revealed.

IDA (41)

Since the late 1980s, professional and amateur astronomers, lighting engineers, and others have joined together in the International Dark Sky Association. Striving to bring the message of light pollution to a wider audience, IDA goals are not less light but safer, more intelligent light. Progress is being made in small steps, in countries, states, cities, classrooms and even in planetariums.

(Coves black stars only!)

Leslie Peltier + (42)—Peltier Pan #1 (43-45)—Peltier Pan #2 (46-48)

It is a message that would have satisfied one particular sky watcher, comet discoverer Leslie Peltier of Ohio. In 1960 he revisited the site of his old, dark, farm observatory. When he got there, he was utterly bewildered.

(Coves up - set polluted sky)

Lamp add-on #1 (49)

Instead of the sublime beauty of the stars, the blinding, blue-white glare of a powerful, nearby light flooded the area.

Lamp add-on #2 (50) or

Lamp add-on #3 (51)

Five other lights on other farms added to the brightness.

Peltier Quote (52)

He wrote, "The moon and the stars no longer come to the farm. The farmer has exchanged his birthright in them for the wattage of his all-night sun. His children will never know the blessed dark of night."

Forrest Pan (53-56)

(Coves black stars only!)

Decades have passed since Leslie Peltier's visit to the farm that saw no night. With every day that passes, is it not too much to hope that the night sky will return to the farm, to the desert, and to the forest? Can we hope also that the night sky, the birthright of everyone, can even return to the cities and the suburbs? If that happens, then the dawn of a new era will have a happy dusk indeed.

(Slow sunrise or start main feature star show)

Credits (57-63)

Written by (57)

Music by (58)

Art Work by (59)

Magnaray (60)

Meade (61)

Produced by (62)

IDA info (63)

Full-cut-off lamp

(64)

1. Source: http://www.lighting.com/index.taf?_UserReference=6DDEB91601962FBD3B6647FC&_sn=content&_pn=story&_op=322

2. Source: Skyline, Sky & Telescope’s News Bulletin for August 10, 2001

3. Source: Skyline, Sky & Telescope’s News Bulletin for August 10, 2001