2022 Light Pollution Committee Meetings

[Christopher K.]

In December HRPO was graced with a visit from Melanie Templet and Walt Cooney, two people effective in getting the Observatory founded and putting the Observatory "on the map" with dozens of asteroid discoveries, respectively. Each expressed concern at the expansive light pollution problem near the storied facility's viewing grounds.

Are you a local skygazer, homeowner, business owner, science teacher or stakeholder interested reclaiming a natural sky above HRPO and its surrounding while simultaneously saving money and energy, and making driving safer? The first 2022 meeting of the Light Pollution Committee meeting will be at HRPO on Wednesday 26 January at 6pm.

This meeting (open to the public) is a sounding board for real-life solutions to the light pollution problem. The January session will have an update of the in-progress Seven-Year Action Plan to Reacquire the Natural Sky and review the current successes of the on-site BRAS petition as well as the Free the Milky Way display.

[Christopher K.]

The next meeting of the Light Pollution Committee will be at HRPO on Wednesday 23 February at 6pm.

The February session will introduce a special visitor package which will include steps to make your private property as skygazer-friendly as possible.

[Christopher K.]

HRPO personnel have found in its archives seven copies of the classic full-sized foldout "The Best Deep-Sky Objects". It contains a brief essay describing the magnification power needed for certain celestial treasures, and a right ascension/declination list of 177 of these amazing hidden features of the night sky. Starting tonight, the first seven households to attend Light Pollution Committee meetings will receive one of these copies. There are only seven!

[Christopher K.]

The next meeting of the Light Pollution Committee will be at HRPO on Wednesday 25 May at 6pm. Among other topics, the BRAS Showcase (at HRPO on 17 June) and the recitation of local light pollution mitigating suggestions and triumphs at the Showcase, is on the agenda.

[Christopher K.]

The next meeting of the Light Pollution Committee will be on Monday 8 August at 6pm, one hour before the regular monthly BRAS meeting.

Standing topics to cover will include...
*how homeowners can speak to their electricity provider about streetlamp light shining into windows
*performing a GLOBE at Night measurement
*the in-progress Natural Sky Action Plan

[Christopher K.]

The next Light Pollution Committee meeting is Monday 10 October, 6pm at HRPO.

Beginning with the October meeting, the format will be different. From 6pm to 6:30pm the business of the Commitee will be sorted out. From 6:30pm to 7pm a workshop will teach attending citizens how to adjust electric lightning make their personal property better suited for skygazing.

[Christopher K.]

The next Light Pollution Committee meeting is Monday 14 November, 6pm at HRPO.

Many local citizens will notice in the past thirty-six months the installment at several locations of extremely bright white LEDs. Many of these installments are rectangular and although flat and not bulging, still are tilted at such an angle that a high amount of lumens hits drivers' faces as they are passing. These fixtures, and the remedies to the problem they cause, will be discussed.

[Christopher K.]

The next Light Pollution Committee meeting is Monday 12 December, 6pm at HRPO. At this meeting participants will receive a timeline for introduction of additional components to HRPO's Free the Milky Way display. Also to be discussed is the shifting of the Natural Sky Conference to 30 December. (The 25th Anniversary celebration was to subsume the 2022 NHC and that celebration was scheduled for 19 November; it was moved to December due to circumstances beyond the control of onsite staff. Therefore, the Anniversary celebration is now subsuming both the NGC and the end-of-year Preview Party.)