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Some of you know I have been nibbling around the idea of putting to the Kaikoura District Council the concept of applying for Dark Sky Reserve for the region. The regions is rich for dark sky development with the endangered Hutton Shearwater, which falls out of the sky due to night lighting, a number of marine reserves, a platinum earth watch award and a Government just recently released a plan to help bolster tourism to the region. Astro-tourism will quickly follow. There is also a Maori astronomy culture link which is being revived at the moment. I was recently contacted by a New Zealand representative of IDA and have increased my research. At the moment I am contact and knowledge gathering. I have contacts there through work, but at the moment I doing a fair bit of reading :(. (I get bored easily no matter what the topic.) Does anyone have the name of the gentleman with the observatory up on the cliff and contact information? I need to get up there and do a sky reading and he may already have one and also be adding his interest and knowledge to this venture. Even if it doesn’t rate for a Dark Sky Reserve I still think this is a good idea. Thanks Trace
..also any other Astronomy groups up Marlborough way? E.g. Nelson, Blenheim? AND if anyone can help soften my approach to them.
Hi Tracey
The more dark sky the better. – Unfortunately the opposite is going on in Christchurch with the new super bright 4000 Kelvin LED road lights being installed everywhere.
The observatory in Kaikoura seems to be at no. 2 Austin Street, Kaikoura where a 20 Inch telescope is installed. The Kaikoura Art Society Incorporated is registered under that address. Contact details for the Kaikoura Art Society: Larry Field, email larryfield14@gmail.com, Ph. 022 319 7090 or 03 319 7090. I can’t be 100 % sure whether Larry Field lives at 2 Austin Street, but he most likely knows who is.
Good luck
Bert
Hi there
I am a journalist with North Canterbury News and I cover Kaikoura stories from my desk in Rangiora, so I have some contacts up there and talk weekly to the Mayor. Would you be interested in having a chat about your dark sky park idea some time? You could call me on (03) 3138111 or 027-5598882 or we could chat at a CAS meeting.
Thanks
David
Thank you everyone for your replies and contact information. It is greatly appreciated.
I am going to Stardate SI at Staverley next weekend from the Friday to the Sunday. Is it possible that someone can pick up the sky meter on the way out so I can learn how to use it there? I will keep an eye out for anyone heading out to the observatory this weekend.
David: Thanks. I feel this is a delicate matter to be handled carefully. They have had a rough time with the rebuild requirements of the 2016 earthquake. When you help connect a community you don’t have to live there to feel you want to do more and the place is quite special. I want to make sure I fully understand what I am investigating and the idea I am offering and asking of the community. Ironically I have just been told this week is my last with the NCTIR design office and I head back to my home org of WSP-Opus where I can continue my investigations. Are you going to Stardate? Otherwise I will be in touch. Once I have done my reading ;(.
Larry Field is an active and well know astronomer. I’m not sure if he is a current member of CAS or not. He may well be at Staverley. I’m sure he would be delighted to discuss these opportunities.
Dennis Goodman lives in Nelson now. He recently moved there and was a long standing and active member of CAS. He is very active with the Nelson society. Dennis will also likely be at Staverley, and he is often in Christchurch. astrovino@astrovino.co.nz
As Terry says I have returned the light meter. We should be able to bring it to Staverley.
Right. Grab a tea or coffee. Investigations are still ongoing and I stepped into the err ‘dark side’ of dark sky reserve criteria, so that makes it the light side of attending a meeting of Lighting contractors and designers.
Last week I went to a lecture by a leading Lighting Designer, he helped with the design of the UK Antarctica base Halley. At one point, with the help of physiologists and a medical team, he ran a few experiments on the Scientists wintering over to measure their melatonin levels and how to keep their circadian rhythm working for the benefit of their physical, mental and emotional well being. The melatonin hormone is also chillingly known as the cancer hormone. It was research required due to the help issues of wintering over and to help stop staff going into what is known as free-running where sleep patterns are completely disrupted. He was presenting his results.
I managed to get him aside before his lecture for a long talk on other research he has done, LED’s and the present stance on LED colour. He used to be part of a research team studying the effect of street lighting on turtles and agrees that 2700K is good for nature reserves. However. There is no research evidence linking the 4000K of street lighting with interruptions of the circadian sleep cycle of humans and in fact his research said the opposite. He used blue light of T5 lamps upt to 10,000 and 15000K. Real blue light and there was no discernible disruption to their sleep cycles. What he found made a difference was the intensity of light, how bright it was, so he designed 14000 lux lamps for a 20 minute routine every morning routine that set the sleep patterns cycles and they weren’t effected by the lighting that day, no matter what type.
What we do have is a link between poorly designed street lighting, poorly installed and poorly shielded street lighting all playing a part in the issues we are having now. There is also the point that the poorly designed street lighting is creating glare and in particular contrast issues; making it difficult for the human eye to discern its environment in a night environment. Couple with light pollution into bedrooms he believes is the problem. Our bedrooms need to be pitch black. He also queries the blue light issue of electronic equipment and wonders how ‘bright’ the equipment is and believes a study needs to look into that aspect further. (Though personally I believe no electronic equipment in the bedroom is a good thing.)
He also pointed out to me that the issue with 2700K lighting is the same we had with the sodiums of a similar colour. The lighting at night with those colours creates no colour definition, it required to increase in power usage to get the same cover as at 4000K street light – which costs more to run, and it can play havoc with our eyes rods and cones of our night vision. The example he gave was when you walk inside from an environment of orange light you can get a purple tone across your sight as your eyes adjust to the change and for some people this contrast in lighting can make them nauseous.
I made the acquaintance of a representative of the company that installed the Wellington lights and he is very keen about responsible street lighting installation and so a direct contact to the realities of installing street lighting. The issue of the lighting over in Avonhead etc is another matter and was put down to costs. My boss has already rang to complain about the lack of light pollution control with the fittings and he should know what he is talking about!
I was told by lighting installers that Wellington is getting 3000K LED’s and in the media it was mentioned that Dunedin is also going for 3000K. that puts them in good sted with the latest criteria of the IDA. Surprisingly I was told Kaikoura also has 3000K LED’s installed and that news I will definitely follow up as it didn’t look like it August last year. Christchurch does have some areas of 3000K. e.g the Terraces, which I will check out with a few pints, and an example of good street lighting is where you cannot see the street light fixture until you are right under it e.g. The Main Road across the estuary going to Sumner.
T
P.s. Supposedly melatonin tablets work as a placebo effect and the best thing to flush out melatonin of the system is a hot shower at night pointed at the base of the back your neck. A cold bedroom and tucked up under your bed cloths. Sweet dreams. T
Hi there
I had a chat with Winston Gray, the Kaikoura Mayor yesterday at the Kaikoura A&P Show. He confirmed the street lighting in the town is being changed to help protect the Hutton’s shearwater birds, which get disorientated with the street lighting and crash land in the town.
A dark sky reserve / park isn’t something which has been thought of by the council. At the moment there is a shortage of accommodation, at least over the summer months and has been fully booked most nights so far this summer. The largest accommodation provider at present only has 31 beds and not all of the providers are back up and running since the earthquake. So the town wouldn’t really be able to cope with anymore summer attractions – at the moment.
But there is a 120-bed hotel being built by Sudima which is due to open next summer and the other accommodation is slowly being repaired. And the council, Destination Kaikoura and the iSite are keen to explore winter attractions, as the town goes dead from May to September.
Winston noted there is no public observatory in the town, but there are one or two private individuals with telescopes. While it is not a project the council could take on at this stage, if there was a group of local astronomers who were keen and who drove the project as a winter attraction, he saw no reason why such an initiative couldn’t work and get council support. He also believed the local runanga could be approached.
He also said the Clarence Valley, well away from the town, is particularly impressive for stargazing on a clear night.
Thanks you David! I appreciate your efforts in chatting with Mr Gray.
Yes there is a lot of work rebuilding the area and it will take a number of years yet. I had always seen it as a long term plan. The icing on the finished town cake so to speak. At least a seed of an idea has been planted. Astronomy viewing and photography seems to be a winter thing, due to where the Milky Way is positioned, constellations available at that time and the longer viewing nights of winter. (The others can correct me if I am wrong :).) From my perspective the Dark Sky aspect is not just about stargazing, but as they are doing it for the Shearwaters, and if they truly are installing 3000K LED’s, that is another step in that direction.
I confirmed with Larry that he owns the dome on Austin Street and I have an open invitation to pop in and see him next I am up there, on the days he too is there.
Kyra, the New Zealand representative of IDA, and I are trying to organise a Skype call and so I can pass this on and see what she has to say. Thanks again for planting the seed.
Trace
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