Outreach Update

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue39 1–30 April 2023

During the first weekend of the Enlighten Festival, we took telescopes down to the Parliamentary Triangle to do stargazing.  While the clouds were rough on the first night, on Saturday, the sky cleared enough to get some good views of a few objects. It was great to be down there and join in on the festivities!

School visits were also in full swing in March.  With 12 schools bringing about 450 students, we have been busy!  Luckily the weather was mostly been kind,  so the students had some great views through the telescopes! We also had 18 private groups up for visits and stargazing, so the outreach telescopes were getting a workout during march!

Next month, we will resume our Public Nights which will be great to do again!

We have also been working with the ACT Government on lighting and light pollution around Mt Stromlo Observatory.  We have had a number of meetings with them and have been doing some testing on reducing the ambient light and sky glow in Molonglo.  They have been very receptive, and super keen to reduce the overall light pollution in the region.  

The ACT government has a large amount of street lights, and overtime all street lights will be upgraded across Canberra, so that they can be individually controlled with power and lighting outputs.  We were using this to dim lights in Molonglo to different levels - both to measure the impact on the ground as well as sky glow. In the attached pictures, getting down to ~20% normal light output reduces some of the skyglow, while still having relatively bright streets.  Further testing on the ground under the lights as they are reduced is occurring to make sure they comply with regulations and safety requirements.  Reducing the power would be implemented in the middle of the night (such as 11pm - 5am) when most people are not out and about.

Given the success of our tests, not only will this be implemented - the exact levels and timings are still being worked through - but it will be implemented not just in Molonglo - but through wider Canberra.  In doing so, it will also save the ACT megawatts worth of energy per night, further reducing the ACT’s environmental impact.

With other additions like screening/shielding on lights to prevent upward spill, there will be lots of movement in this area over the coming years. 

Brad Tucker