[Darksky]Stellafane press release

[Jan Hollan]

Neco pro poteseni... Kdysi jsem taky psal nejakemu senatorovi, aby to
vezeni nestaveli, ale postavili je prece. Ted si vsak pocinaji tak, aby
neskodili, dokonce budou delat neco jako ,,nahradni vysadbu``.  Kez by to
tak delali vsichni.  

zdravi Jenik

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 21:32:49 -0400
From: Mario E. Motta <mmottaAmassmed...>
To: atmob-announce <atmob-announceAjovian...>,
     "nelpagAharvee....ma.us" <nelpagAharvee....ma.us>,
     "Green, Dan" <dgreenAcfa....edu>, "idaAdarksky..." <idaAdarksky...>
Subject: [Nelpag] [Fwd: Good News for Stellafane]

This is a press release announcing that the skies over Stellafane have
been preserved, this is a major victory and an inspiration to us all!!

Mario Motta
             ---------------------------------------------

Press Release
For More Information, Call:
Maryann Arrien
Public Relations
The Springfield Telescope Makers
(845) 528-7420
marrienAcomputer...
http://www.stellafane.com
For Release 12:00 PM EST
For All Media
May 14, 2001 


Stellafane and State Reach Prison Lighting Agreement
 Springfield, Vermont

The Springfield Telescope Makers (i.e. - "Stellafane") through the help of
their attorney Stephen L.  Saltonstall, Esq. and Dave Burley, Chief
Engineer of the Vermont Dept. of Buildings & General Services, have
reached an agreement by which the dark skies over Stellafane will be
protected from the light emanating from the proposed Southern State
Correctional Facility. 
 
The conditions of this agreement shall make it possible for Stellafane to
become a party in favor of the project should the mutual agreement be made
a condition of the Act 250 permit by District Environmental Commission #2. 

To protect the skies over Stellafane, the State of Vermont hired
Stellafane's first choice of lighting consultant, the acclaimed Nancy
Clanton of Clanton & Associates, Denver Colorado, to create the lighting
design.  Clanton, a highly respected lighting designer and fellow of the
IESNA Board of Lighting Standards and Practices, produced a subtly clever
lighting design for the Southern State Correctional facility that
maximizes visibility for the guards while minimizing it for the prisoners. 
It also utilizes "full cutoff" lighting - a form of lighting which allows
no direct wasted upward light component.  Full-cutoff lighting is rapidly
becoming the standard for all new roadway, industrial, and shopping center
lighting across the United States.  Lighting designers have found that
uniform lighting levels of low intensity allow for better visibility by
allowing the biology of the human eye to adapt from viewing a darker area
to viewing a lighted area or vice-versa.  The slow rate of adaptation of
the human eye is well known to astronomers, who must often wait as much as
one half hour for eyes to re- adapt to the night sky after seeing a white
light. 

Even with full cutoff lighting, however, some percentage of the prison's
light will be reflected off the ground to become a visible upward bounce. 
In order to offset the diffuse glow that the prison will add to the sky,
the State has agreed to do some off-site light pollution mitigation of
approximately 150,000 lumens of currently wasted direct upward lighting. 
Stellafane has pointed out some preferred sites that could be improved by
shielding, bulb wattage reduction or lighting re-design that could help
improve some sections of the sky where light pollution is already limiting
Stellafane's research potential. 

In addition to its research-grade new-technology McGregor Observatory, 3.8
miles from the prison, the Springfield Telescope Makers are also
fabricating a 27 inch diameter reflecting telescope, which will need even
darker skies to function properly at full power.  It is greatly hoped that
some of these other sites can be mitigated to enable study of certain
galaxies and celestial objects that are presently being hindered by light
pollution. 

Stellafane is very pleased that Engineers Dave Burley and Mike Kuhn
technically understood the damage that light pollution can do to Vermont's
premiere astronomical observatory -- Stellafane.

As the problems of light pollution are better understood by all citizens,
the Springfield Telescope Makers are hopeful that they can continue to
develop their telescope making craft to help Stellafane Observatory
achieve its true potential as an astronomical research facility in the
hometown of telescope making giants Russell W. Porter and James Hartness. 

According to Maryann Arrien, former Stellafane president, "This is really
an example of win-win all around. Not only will this agreement benefit
Stellafane Observatory and reduce electric costs, it will help to preserve
the view of the stars for all the citizens in the area, and their
children's children." 

***