#darkskies — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #darkskies, aggregated by home.social.
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Smart comms: "DarkSky International does not take a position on border security policy; that question sits outside our mission and our expertise. Our position, set by our board, is simple: naturally dark places should remain dark."
https://darksky.org/news/darkskys-statement-protecting-dark-skies-in-the-big-bend-region/
#DarkSkies #BigBend #Border #BorderSecurity #UnitedStates #CBP
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When cities transition to LED streetlights, the results can sometimes worsen urban skyglow. But it does not have to be that way. Our latest post compares three global cities that successfully modernized their public lighting while drastically reducing light pollution.
Tucson proved the value of reducing total lumen output to avoid the rebound effect. Vienna demonstrated that strict optical shielding and zero upward light can cut streetlight skyglow by 75 percent over a decade. Metz pioneered ecological spectral management, using ultra-warm 1000 K LEDs and smart sensors to protect river wildlife.
Learn how these three strategies create a blueprint for dark-sky-friendly urban lighting: http://www.darkskyconsulting.com/blog/tucson-vienna-metz-a-tale-of-three-cities
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Si echas de menos las conspiraciones clásicas a lo Expediente X, tienes que descubrir Dark Skies. Gobiernos mintiendo, avistamientos y paranoia setentera ambientada en los noventa. ¿Por qué no la recuerda nadie? 🛸🛰️
#DarkSkies #CienciaFicción #SeriesClásicas #seriestv -
#DarkSkies means jobs: “Northumberland National Park attracted 1.79 million visitors in 2025, contributing £146 million to the UK economy fueled by #astrotourism.”
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"Unfettered access to the cosmos is an integral part of the landscape in Terlingua and across the #BigBend region of West #Texas. It has fostered a community of dark sky defenders, who regularly ward off threats like too-bright store signs and intrusive car headlights.
"Now, they’re facing something far greater: the construction of President Trump’s #border wall, which residents across the Big Bend fear will bring bright lighting along land that is currently untouched."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/science/texas-astronomy-dark-sky-border.html
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This is bad news for two aspiring International Dark Sky Places in some of the darkest territory in the Lower 48 U.S. states: https://apnews.com/article/trump-bears-ears-grand-staircase-escalante-69f14749f13a7ac6fb6ee07ce4cd84bf
This stunt was also tried in the first Trump Administration. It was sued by NRDC, and the action expired with the first term. https://www.nrdc.org/court-battles/nrdc-et-v-trump-bears-ears
It should expect the same this time, and environmental orgs are again ready to wait him out.
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Thanks to @TheEconomist for a mention in this story about @idadarksky's International Dark Sky Places program and the economic impact of astrotourism around the world.
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RE: https://c.im/@RadicalAnthro/116894549247368606
#BrendanCarr and #SpaceNazis have to fuck with everything!
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The newly released "Artificial Light at Night: State of the Science 2026" report highlights a massive surge in global light pollution research, bringing critical new insights into how artificial light at night (ALAN) impacts our world.
Key findings from 2025 studies show that our understanding of skyglow has become highly sophisticated, accounting for complex cloud coverage. Furthermore, research underscores clear health risks from the synergy of ALAN and air pollution, significant disruptions to urban vegetation dynamics, and broader ecosystem risks altering carbon cycles.
To safeguard the nocturnal commons, public policy must now catch up to this undeniable scientific consensus. Read more: https://www.darkskyconsulting.com/blog/artificial-light-at-night-state-of-the-science-2026
#LightPollution #StateOfTheScience #ALAN #DarkSkies #Astronomy #EnvironmentalScience
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116844616500605008
This thread shows just how devestating the explosion of low earth orbit satellites could be for ground based optical astronomy, and radio astronomy is just as badly affected. It beggers belief that these satellites can be approved with no regard to the environmental consequences.
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“Scientists have long warned that rising levels of artificial light — increasingly amplified by satellite megaconstellations orbiting our planet — are steadily eroding these nightscapes, disrupting ecosystems, affecting human health and dimming views of stars and distant celestial objects. Darkness itself carries no price tag, however, meaning its loss has largely been absent from the economic calculations that guide development and outdoor lighting decisions. Now, new research attempts to translate that loss visible in monetary terms.
“A study combining satellite data with on-the-ground surveys of visitors at several ‘gold-tier’ dark-sky sites found that people were less likely to choose parks with greater artificial skyglow or poorer night-sky conditions, and showed a clear willingness to pay more for darker skies.”
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Close, but no cigar...
A Chinese rocket breaks apart dangerously close to the #Starlink constellation
By Stephen Clark, June 15, 2026
#WorldPol #DarkSkies #KesslerSyndrome #KesslerEffect #LowEarthOrbit #LEO
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The AI Environmental Impacts Act, introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), specifically calls out light pollution as a concern tied to the build-out of AI-related infrastructure in the U.S.
More info in Rep. Beyer's press release: https://beyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=9143
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Farmers in a national park are turning down lights at night to help wildlife – it could be good for crops too
#Environment #Wildlife #Farms #Agriculture #LightPollution #Biodiversity #DarkSkies #NationalParks #Pollinators #Bats #Insects #Tourism #UK #Dark
https://the-14.com/farmers-in-a-national-park-are-turning-down-lights-at-night-to-help-wildlife-it-could-be-good-for-crops-too/ -
#LightPollution research spans many fields, but progress is slowed because astronomers, ecologists, and lighting engineers use different rulers to measure the same night sky. This communication breakdown complicates how we manage outdoor lighting as a shared public resource.
Read more about why clearing up these discrepancies eliminates misunderstandings and gives city planners the precise data needed for better policy: https://www.darkskyconsulting.com/blog/the-language-of-light-standardizing-light-pollution-measurements
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Creeping closer to #KesslerSyndrome...
#SpaceWeather News, May 19, 2026
PUTTING THE "MEGA" IN MEGACONSTELLATION
"Two months ago, headlines announced a Space Age milestone: #SpaceX now has more than 10,000 active #Starlink satellites circling Earth--two-thirds of all the working satellites in the sky. Analysts were gobsmacked by the pace of change.
Turns out, that's nothing. Back in January, SpaceX had already filed paperwork asking the FCC for permission to launch a million. The proposed #megaconstellation would become a solar-powered #AIDataDenter, requiring hourly rocket launches carrying a million tons of satellites per year."
Source:
https://spaceweather.com/#Madness #TechBros #LowEarthOrbit #DarkSkies #KesslerEffect #Satellites #SpacePollution #LEO
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Analyst on #China’s spent rocket stages: “Things only continue to get worse”
Spent upper stages are the most dangerous kind of #SpaceDebris.
Eric Berger – May 26, 2026
"Further growth is anticipated from both the company’s state-owned enterprises as well as a rapidly expanding number of private launch companies. There is nothing wrong with this, as China’s rapid growth in launch has been mirrored by the United States and, in particular, SpaceX.
"However there is an issue with these launches, as China appears to be ignoring long-established norms about disposing of the upper stages of rockets. These are the parts of the vehicle that separate from the first stage of a rocket and push a satellite or spacecraft into orbit."
[...]
" 'China… continues to abandon many rocket bodies in high low-Earth orbit,' Shell wrote on LinkedIn early Monday. 'The total mass of orbital debris is a key variable influencing the long-term sustainment of space. There is broad agreement that abandoning rocket body upper stages in long-lived orbits is not a best practice. In fact, all the major space-faring nations have acknowledged this.' ”
#SpaceJunk #KesslerSyndrome #KesslerEffect #Megaconstellations #DarkSkies #SpacePollution #SpaceX #LowEarthOrbit
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"'There is increasing scientific evidence that both are having a significant and lasting impact on the natural environment and human health. To reverse this devastating damage, we need swift and effective action from both policymakers and legislators before it's too late.”
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"I had come to the Permian Basin envisioning a mythic battle between two colossal orders, a galaxy-hunting telescope and a perpetually illuminated oilfield. I found a more disquieting situation, in which apparent antagonists have achieved procedural compatibility. The spectacle of opposition dissolves into a technocratic partnership that projects harmony while preserving extractive imperatives."
https://placesjournal.org/article/empire-loves-a-dark-sky-texas-lebanon/
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"Contrary to frequent arguments put forward by opponents of this kind of policies, switching off public lighting has no significant impact on most types of crimes and a small impact on burglaries." (via @ssrn)
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New preprint by S. Bará et al., "Protecting and restoring the sky quality at astronomical observatories" https://zenodo.org/records/20259634
In it, the authors argue that traditional regulatory frameworks, which focus primarily on source-by-source lighting controls and local "good practices", are structurally incapable of preventing an unbounded increase in overall skyglow. To remedy this, they propose a comprehensive, top-down framework based on enforceable territorial light emission budgets to actively protect and restore astronomical sites.
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The #LightPollution Theory, Modeling and Measurements (LPTMM) 2026 #conference just wrapped. The latest data indicate an urgent global expansion of artificial light at night. Simultaneously, low Earth orbit is crowded with over 15,000 active satellites, threatening twilight research at professional observatories.
These artificial perturbations trigger profound ecological consequences. Nighttime light desynchronizes the tightly coordinated lunar cues that tropical corals rely on for spawning. It also cuts reef fish sleep short, inducing measurable neuronal DNA damage in the brain. On remote islands, unshielded #LED #lighting infrastructure directly causes severe disorientation and fatal collisions for endemic seabirds.
To protect skies and ecosystems, researchers push to evaluate all-sky angular light distributions and ground-level illuminance over traditional, zenith-only metrics. Utilizing low-cost calibrated RGB digital cameras provides an open, "good enough" baseline to enforce outdoor lighting policies. Real mitigation relies on building cross-discipline coalitions to co-design sustainable lighting directly with local communities.
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Tomorrow is Day 1 of the Light Pollution: Theory, Modeling and Measurement (LPTMM) 2026 meeting in Ensenada, Mexico. Sadly this time I won't be able to join the crew in person, but I'll be listening in from home via the series of tubes known as the Interwebz.
On Friday, I'm excited to (remotely) moderate a roundtable discussion, the anticipated outcome of which is a consensus that it's time to take meaningful next steps toward standardizing measurement methods, reporting and units in light pollution studies.
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Pope Leo XIV today lamented light pollution, telling Vatican Observatory Foundation Board members "we have filled our skies with man-made light that blinds us to the lights God has placed there", evoking the words of his immediate predecessor.
Transcript: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2026/may/documents/20260511-vof.html
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New research shows our planet’s night is more volatile than ever.
A decade of satellite data reveals that while some areas are dimming due to policy changes or crisis, others are brightening at a rate that keeps the global average of light pollution rising by 2% annually.
It’s time to move from studying the glow to taking action. Read more: https://www.darkskyconsulting.com/blog/decoding-a-decade-of-rising-global-light-pollution
#DarkSkies #LightPollution #Science #Environment #NatureRestoration
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This legislation, if signed into law by the U.S. President, will have a direct and harmful effect on conditions at a designated International Dark Sky Sanctuary.
The news item: https://apnews.com/article/mining-moratorium-boundary-waters-senate-vote-3e3f0827d52dd6d37f5e554b804ff27c
The legislation: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-joint-resolution/140
The Sanctuary: https://darksky.org/places/boundary-waters-canoe-area-dark-sky-sanctuary/
The world is watching.
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Losing the Dark - Flat Screen Version
"Starry skies are a vanishing treasure because light pollution is washing away our view of the cosmos. It not only threatens astronomy, it disrupts wildlife, and affects human health. The yellow glows over cities and towns — seen so clearly from space — are testament to the billions spent in wasted energy from lighting up the sky.
"To help raise public awareness of some of the issues pertaining to light pollution, Loch Ness Productions in collaboration with the International #DarkSky Association has created a 6.5-minute 'public service announcement' called Losing the Dark. It introduces and illustrates some of the issues regarding #LightPollution, and suggests three simple actions people can take to help mitigate it.
"Losing the Dark was initially created in fulldome video format for digital planetarium use. It also has been made as a conventional flat screen video, for use in classrooms, kiosks, museum theaters, and advocate multimedia presentations. Classic #planetarium theaters without fulldome capability can show this version using their traditional video projectors."