'Extraordinarily dark' town swaps out light bulbs to gain dark sky certification
(www.abc.net.au)
from Beep@lemmus.org to world@lemmy.world on 11 Mar 10:27
https://lemmus.org/post/20760097
from Beep@lemmus.org to world@lemmy.world on 11 Mar 10:27
https://lemmus.org/post/20760097
The Queensland town of Winton has been certified as an International Dark Sky Community.
The town has committed to managing its light pollution and installed warm bulbs in its streetlights.
Winton Shire Council and tourism operators believe the certification will attract stargazers wanting to experience the natural night sky.
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This should be a law everywhere, not just rich neighborhoods. Sodium for the win! Its way better for peoples sleep/circadian rhythms. I hate this shit that of course poor people dont deserve to sleep after they get in from their filthy streetwalking
Funny how my neighborhood has sodium lamps but the poorer part has LEDs. My part of the street recently stopped lighting them at all so now I can see the stars, it’s glorious
D’accord, monsieur moneybagz
Honestly it’s probably because there are more government buildings in that part lol, we’re equally poor generally
Thats still prestige-adjacent aha
Prestige of sharing space with tax wasting dumbasses maybe lol, it’s very minor stuff though, nothing important going on there
Besides you being straightup dope 😎
I miss when most cars had halogens and all street lights were mostly sodium besides a few mercury lights. Night driving used to be something I actually enjoyed doing and now it’s something I despise…
There’s no reason why LEDs can’t mimic sodium lights, they just dont because the boomers buying them were raised on the belief that cooler and brighter is better.
What is it with Boomers and the ugliest light, I’ve been to some houses where their house was literally lit like a news studio at fucking 8 at night, like i have no idea how they ever sleep. It was beyond disturbing
Went to visit my family over the holidays and they had replaced the lights in my old bedroom (a fan with 4 sockets) with 4x 150-W-equivalent cold-as-ice LEDs. I turned the lights on and immediately was blinded.
I turned around, went to home depot, and bought 4x 40-W equivalent warm-as-possible LEDs and made the swap. We’ll see what’s there next time I visit - I may have started a silent war.
My grandparents the same. I use their LED candles for light lol. Its so far the opposite of what I’m used to. I’m a Hue colored bulbs home where I constantly mess around with colors and palettes and my place is like deep dark red after 7pm. Its always an—lets call it adjustment
I live in Europe, and I only have seen the milky way once while traveling. I really can’t express how beautiful it is. You’d think those images on the internet with the purple glow are heavily edited, but that’s really how it looks like. Light pollution is awful, and I hope we can turn it back so everybody can experience the beauty of space from their own back yard.
I grew up in rural Texas. One of the few joys I had was being able to look up into the sky and see the Milky Way just about every night.
Grew up in a rural town (less than 800), was my favorite part. The early/late running or intimate backroad walks was incredible
My feet are still hard as rocks from walking on the hot pavement so much when I was younger.
Ive heard barefoot is healthier but damn if its not uncomfortable
I have never seen it. Now that I think of it I wonder if a few times while roadtripping if I might have had a chance to see it but had not thought to go out at night and try to get a glimpse.
When my wife and I went on our honeymoon, we spent a night at sea in what’s supposed to be one of the darkest places in the Carribean on the same night there was a shuttle launch. I was so supremely excited to see the true sky. Literally a once in a lifetime experience.
We got hit with a storm. The launch was scrubbed. We spent the night restricted below deck, trying to navigate hallways that almost felt like you could walk on the walls. It was an amazing trip, but I’m still bummed about that night.
Ah that’s too bad. Some other user here posted a picture of a light pollution map which you can easily find online. You could use it if you are looking for a vacation spot in the future.
It’s truly a sight.
My wife was a born and raised big city girl. She never knew what a real night sky looked like outside of the 20 or so brightest objects you can see in the city. She was well travelled, but only to other cities. She has never even gone camping.
When we were dating, after discovering she had not seen a real night sky in her life, late one night I took her on a drive out to the outer edge of farm country. Not even close to actual dark sky, but way better than anything she had ever seen. It was a magical moment. She never knew you could see the milky way, let alone Andromeda with your eyes.
Imagine being a young adult woman and only ever having seen a handful of the brightest stars. Some boy you dig, but barely know gets all excited when the conversation turns to astronomy, which you know nothing about and aside from polite conversation, don’t care about. He gets this cheshire cat’s grin, whisks you into his car and drives 2 hours out into the country at 1am on a whim.
You’re nervous. The drive is long enough for various weird scenarios to pop into your head, not all of them good. He stops the car at a dead end dirt road without so much as a streetlight. Just farms and forest in the distance. Its a warm summer night. He turns off the car and gets out. It takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the darkness after the headlights go out. He gets out of the car and opens the door for you. A cool gentle breeze blows on your face and you can hear crickets chirping. He holds both your hands warmly, gives you the biggest smile, looks deep into your eyes in a long silence. Eventually he says “Now look up”. You follow his eyes as they turn skyward.
Then you see it for the first time.
Married now for ~ 20 years, and while I’ve had more than my fair share of less than charming moments, she still says when I put in the effort, I can be devastatingly romantic.
Awww. That’s beautiful.
<img alt="" src="https://europe.pub/pictrs/image/460f110b-f6af-4914-aa7f-d56e620b1d38.jpeg">
Yeah, I live in the middle of that big bright spot. I’ve got no idea what the milky way looks like.
When I lived at my old house, the interstate (a mile away or so) switched from sodium lights to LEDs and the light bleed was bad enough that I could have done precision yardwork at night. Even with blackout curtains, I could see the outline of my door at night. It was miserable.
Palm Springs CA is Dark Sky. It’s cool.