Dark Sky Observeres

The true joy of a moonlit night is something we no longer understand. Only the men of old, when there were no lights, could understand the true joy of a moonlit night.” -Yasunari Kawabata, Palm-of-the-Hand Stories

Quote

The quote above reflects our ever-growing concern of protecting dark skies so moonlight is something we all have an opportunity to enjoy. We are embracing an opportunity to protect our heritage and minimize light pollution, protect citizens from light encroachment and finally to protect the natural environment. Helper City is currently pursuing Dark-Sky Community certification through the International Dark-Sky Association. This effort is focused on protecting our dark sky environment from light pollution. Benefits of this effort include: supporting health and heritage, protecting wildlife habitat, saving money, and providing access to celestial discovery for astronomers – both professional and amateur.

About

To undertake this effort, we are simply considering the design of outdoor lighting and how it may provide better service. Outdoor lighting should ideally enhance visibility, not impede it by producing excess glare or light trespass into other properties. An important point to stress is as follows, dark-sky does not equate to dark ground – proper landscape lighting is a fundamental key to the overall effort of protecting dark skies.

Goal