Sky & Telescope October 1999 [antikvár]

spectrumNo Time for TimidityAs we reported last month on page 21, Stellafane is under siege by a prison that Vermont proposes to site only a few miles i away. That's the distance of the prison in the picture. Details of the plan are unlcnown perhaps protective full-cutoff lighting to shade the sky is already on the drawing boards. But even if it is, I'm unimpressed. That would only be the best of controlled degradation.What would remain out of control is the security lighting put up by nearby residents. Wouldn't you light up your property if you had an aerie of creeps next door? And, if you lived in an economically depressedarea like Stellafane's home in Springfield, wouldn't you go for the cheapest fixture you could find? Likely to be energy-ravenous and poorly shielded, these equivalents of 2-inch 500x department-store telescopes are sure to be great attractors for worried residents on tight budgets.For four decades Stellafane stood alone as the mecca to which all North American amateur astronomers aspired to pilgrimage. Then came Riverside, Texas, Wmter The present trouble begs Stellafene to once again march proudly at the forefront of the amateur community. It has the opportunity, yea the obligation because of its icon status, to become the "poster child" for the preservation of the nighttime sky.The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), for all its common-sense rubrics about efficient and effective fighting, has largely had to talk about aesthetics, economics, and safety. Now it has a cause célebre, fired by national press coverage.Stellafane has a lot going for it. It's a National Historic Landmark (presumably one the federal government should protect). The light-pollution issue should engage environmental groups. And, finally, Stellafane carries the cachet of httle people being trampled upon by big government, which is always an attention-gettenThis battle will test willingness and commitment. First by the folks who run Stellafane. Second by all of us who treasure the night sky and/or believe in the preservation of history and environment.Please get involved somehow. At least call up Stellafane's Web site (www.stellafane.com) for updates and an opportunity to sign the anti-prison petition. Better much better! contribute some money to the cause. Checks should be payable to The Stellafane Legal Defense Fund and sent to PO. Box 601, Springfield, VT 05156.1 think the folks on Breezy Hill are going to need every dollar they can get! Finally, look at the IDA's Web site (www.darksky.org) for the big light-pollution picture. Has there ever been a better time to join IDA?!As Ben Gomes-Casseres of Lexington, Massachusetts, posted on the Internet, Stellafane is "fighting a fight for all of us."P.S. Don't miss David Levy's Stellafane reflections on page 88. There's also a nice light-pollution article in the July/August issue of National Parks.8 October 1999 | Sky & Telescope