Date: March 1, 2012
Title: Dark Skies Crusader, This is Your Light! The 3rd 2012 GLOBE at Night Campaign
Podcasters: Connie Walker and Rob Sparks
Organization: NOAO – National Optical Astronomy
Links: www.noao.edu, www.darksky.org, www.globeatnight.org
Description: With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. This loss, caused by light pollution, is a concern on many fronts: safety, energy conservation, cost, health and effects on wildlife, as well as our ability to view the stars. Even though light pollution is a serious and growing global concern, it is one of the most straightforward environmental problems people can address on local levels. To learn how you can get involved in dark skies preservation and energy conservation, join us for this podcast with the Dark Skies Crusader as he is honored on “This is Your Life”. Participating in the GLOBE at Night campaign is as easy as 1, 2, 3: look up at the night sky, match what you see toward Orion and report it on-line at www.globeatnight.org/webapp/. Thanks!
Bio: Podcast co-author, Connie Walker is an associate scientist and senior science education specialist in the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) group at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, Arizona. She directs the worldwide citizen science campaign on monitoring sky brightness called GLOBE at Night (www.globeatnight.org). She also chaired the global cornerstone project on Dark Skies Awareness for the International Year of Astronomy (www.darkskiesawareness.org).
Podcast co-author, Rob Sparks is a science education specialist in the EPO group at NOAO and works on the Galileoscope project (www.galileoscope.org), providing design, dissemination and professional development. He also pens a great blog at halfastro.wordpress.com.
Portraying the cast of characters, Chris Dunlop (as Ron Edwards), Carmen Austin (as Joan Crusador), and Cameron Capara (as Archie Carman) are University of Arizona undergraduates (in Engineering Management, Astronomy and Chemistry, respectively) who work to support programs, events and other efforts as part of the NOAO Education and Public Outreach group. The returning star by popular demand is Chuck Dugan (as Dark Skies Crusader), a public program specialist for the NOAO Kitt Peak Visitor Center.
Transcript:
Ron: Thanks for meeting me here Dark Skies Crusader. I am glad you agreed to this interview.
DSC: You’re welcome, Ron. I will take every opportunity to go on television and promote the message of dark sky preservation.
Sound effects: Door opening/applause
DSC: What is this? I thought we were doing an interview?
Ron: Dark Skies Crusader, THIS IS YOUR LIFE!. I am your host, Ron Edwards. (applause)
DSC: I don’t know what to say!
Ron: For your tireless efforts to preserve the night sky for future generations, saving sea turtles and other wildlife from the harmful effects of excess nighttime lights, improving human health and helping conserve energy and our natural resources, we would like to honor you tonight on This Is Your Life!
DSC: Well, I hardly know what to say. I am just doing my best to educate the public about good outdoor lighting practices.
Ron: And for that, we thank you. Tonight we have assembled a series of guests that have played an important part in your life. Dark Skies Crusader, do you recognize this voice?
Joan Crusader: My first two children were scared of the dark when they were little but Dark Skies Crusader was afraid of the light.
DSC: Mom, is that you?
Ron: Please welcome Dark Skies Crusader mother, Joan Crusader.
Sound effect: applause
Ron: Welcome, Joan!
Joan: Thank, you Ron. Hi, jo…oops! I almost said your real name and revealed your secret identity!
Ron: Joan, tell us a little bit about his childhood.
Joan: I knew there was something different about him right away. His older brother and sister always insisted on having a night light in their room, but not DSC. He would cry at night if the room wasn’t totally dark and made me turn off all the lights. He thought the monsters under his bed wouldn’t be able to get him if it was too dark for them to see him!
DSC: Now I know that the real reason I had trouble sleeping was that the excess light suppressed my body’s production of melatonin.
Joan: Fortunately, light didn’t bother him during the day, only at night. I remember one year his class went on a field trip to a cave. They turned off all their lights to make it totally dark and he is the only one that wasn’t scared.
Ron: That’s great, Joan. (applause) But of course all of us go through tough times and your teenage years are no exception. Were they, Joan?
Joan: (choking up) That’s right, Ron. When he was fifteen, he became quite unruly and moody. I didn’t know what was going on with him. He would lock himself in his room for hours. One night, I walked in on him and I found him
DSC: Oh, Mom! Please don’t tell them!
Joan: EXPERIMENTING WITH HALOGEN!
Sound effect: audience gasp
Joan: He had at least a dozen two hundred watt halogen floodlights turned on at the same time! It was so bright, I could hardly see! I can’t imagine how much energy he was wasting.
DSC (ashamed): It’s true. I experimented with halogen. I was in a light place.
Joan: He said he wanted to move to Las Vegas where it was always day!
Ron: But you had a turning point in your life didn’t you? Dark Skies Crusader, do you recognize this voice?
Archie: Dude, spring break!
DSC: Archie Carman!
Sound effect: Applause
Archie: The Dark Skies Crusader and I were buddies in college. I will always remember going to Florida with him spring break our sophomore year. That’s where it all started.
Ron: Tell us what happened, Archie.
Archie: Well, we were having a great time spending days at the beach and partying late into the night. One morning we get up and he opens the door and stops cold. He is just standing there looking down; so I say, “What’s up?”
DSC: I saw a baby sea turtle just outside the door!
Sound effect: audience: awwwww
Archie: He was devastated. That’s when he realized that excess nighttime lighting had consequences. Well, to make a long story short, we got the baby sea turtle back to the ocean and saved it.
Sound effect: audience applause
Archie: And when we got back to school, that’s when you made a major decision. Tell them about it.
DSC: Right after spring break, I changed my major so I could become a lighting engineer. I vowed that I would devote my life to protecting wildlife from the negative effects of excess nighttime lighting.
Ron: DSC: we have one more guest. You have been collaborating with her for many years to help measure the brightness of our night sky. Dark Skies Crusader, do you recognize this voice?
Connie Walker: There is nothing quite like the beauty of a truly dark sky.
DSC: Why is that Dr. Connie Walker of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory?
Ron: Why yes it is!
Sound effect: Audience applause
DSC: Connie! Great to see you again! She runs a great program called GLOBE at Night.
Connie: Thank you, Dark Skies Crusader. It’s great to see you again.
DSC: So how is this year’s campaign going?
Connie: Great! Thanks. We have expanded our annual GLOBE at Night campaign to four months this year. We still have campaigns in March and April.
Ron: Could you tell us a little bit more about GLOBE at Night?
Connie: Sure, Ron. GLOBE at Night is a citizen science program where people measure the brightness of their night sky.
DSC: Anyone can participate including astronomy clubs, community organizations, students and the general public.
Connie: All the information is available on the website www.globeatnight.org
DSC: First, go outside at night after it is dark. Wait a few minutes for your eyes to become fully dark-adapted.
Connie: Next, find the constellation of Orion. There are tools and star charts on the GLOBE at Night website to help you.
DSC: On the GLOBE at Night website, there are different charts showing the night sky. Some charts have very few stars like you would see in a very light polluted sky and others have lots of stars like you would see in a dark national park far from city lights.
Connie: Simply match what you see in the sky to one of your charts and you have a measurement of the night sky brightness.
DSC: Then you just enter it into the database.
Ron: How would I enter my data?
DSC: Well, you can go to the GLOBE at Night website from any computer and click report. You need to know your GPS coordinates, but there is a tool where you can enter your address and it will find your coordinates for you.
Connie: Or you can use a mobile device such as a smart phone or iPad. If your device has GPS, your location will automatically be entered for you, as well as your date and time of observation. Our goal this year is to get 15,000 measurements from around the world. Right now we are a third of the way there.
Ron: So when can people make observations? I assume you don’t want the Moon in the sky to interfere with your measurements.
DSC: That is correct, Ron. We want to measure the light from artificial sources.
Connie: We have two campaigns remaining for 2012: March 13th-22nd and April 11th-20th. Observations should be taken between 8pm and 10pm when there is no Moon in the sky.
Ron: Sounds like something fun in which everyone could easily participate and that it would make a world of difference if they did! ….Well, I would like to thank our guests Joan, Archie and Connie for joining us today.
Sound effect: audience applause
Ron: Dark Skies Crusader, this has been your light!
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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