Skies over McDonald Observatory are brightening

[RichardM]

From http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/12/19/1219darkskies.html

MCDONALD OBSERVATORY — On a recent moonless, inky night, Bill Wren made his way around the catwalk that rims the Harlan J. Smith Telescope. He flicked on his small, red-bulbed flashlight to find a hand railing and, stopping here and there, used his cane to point out indoor lights: perhaps an incandescent above a stove, maybe a reading lamp, all in the valley about four miles away. Low on the horizon hung the vague glow of Van Horn and El Paso.

The McDonald Observatory, perched atop the Davis mountains, is the darkest spot in North America suitable for astronomical research. But despite staff efforts to dim the lights in nearby towns, the night skies over McDonald Observatory, which is owned and operated by the University of Texas, are developing a form of pollution more familiar to city-dwellers: Man-made light outshines the stars.

[xseption]

That's a sad state of affairs ... in some areas, it's getting to the point that you don't even need to turn on your headlights anymore

~ edd

[uh_clem]

That's depressing.

[SA Bill]

Depressing indeed...and that county (I think) has a lighting ordinance to try to keep things dark out there.
  Bill

[presidio]

Depressing indeed...and that county (I think) has a lighting ordinance to try to keep things dark out there.
  Bill

Just flip the switch off. Radical concept, huh?