Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Dark Sky Movement has Virginia Roots

Over 40 years ago Lexington native Kurt Riegel  published in Science a seminal paper on light pollution, its impact to astronomy, and measures for limiting its expansion.  You can reach a PDF of the paper here.  Through its publishing Riegel connected with astronomer David Crawford who went on to co-found the International Dark-Sky Association in 1988.  Had leaders and communities heeded Riegel's recommendations with local, state, and national policies and practices, chances are the Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness would look very different..