The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is a U.S.-based non-profit organization incorporated in 1988 by founding members including an astronomer, a medical doctor/amateur astronomer, and an engineer. The IDA's slogan is "The Light Pollution Authority."[1] The mission of the IDA is:
| “ | to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through quality outdoor lighting.[2] | ” |
The principal approach is to raise awareness about the value of dark, star-filled night skies and encourage their protection and restoration through education about the problems and solutions, including lighting practices that create less light pollution. In 2008, the organization had about 5,000 members in 70 countries.
Although the perceived problem of excessive lighting leading to a lowered limiting magnitude of observable stars has existed since the 1950s (and possibly earlier), IDA was the first organisation in the dark-sky movement, devoted to combating all forms of photopollution.
Among other concerns, IDA and related organisations are collating concerns regarding human public health as a result of documented effects on the night hours by light. The hypothesis is that human physiology requires more hours of dark than modern, western cultures now provide given the artificial light that this culture causes for its citizens through the lighting of streets and houses, resulting in elevated levels of cancer.
The International Dark-Sky Association is a member alliance organization of the Meade 4M Community, which supports the IDA's initiatives of dark skies and dark sky friendly outdoor lighting.
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International Dark-Sky Places
To promote awareness about the issues, the IDA has an International Dark-Sky Places program, to recognize locations showing "exceptional commitment to and success in implementing the ideals of dark sky preservation and restoration."
In October 2001, the IDA named Flagstaff, Arizona the first International Dark-Sky Community (IDSC).[3] In April 2007, Natural Bridges National Monument in remote southeast Utah, United States, was named the first International Dark-Sky Park (IDSP).[4] In September, the first International Dark-Sky Reserve (IDSR) was designated in the region surrounding the Parc National du Mont Mégantic in Quebec, Canada. In July 2009, Borrego Springs, California was designated the second International Dark-Sky Community in the world, and the first in California. On 16th November 2009, Zselic Natural Reserve in Hungary and Galloway Forest Park in the UK were officially awarded as the first Dark Sky Parks in Europe.[5][6]
See also
- Bortle Dark-Sky Scale
- Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS)
- CieloBuio, a Italian coordination for the protection of the night sky
- Dark-sky movement
- Light pollution
- Sky brightness
References
- ^ http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do (IDA official website)
- ^ http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=56411&orgId=idsa (IDA Mission & Goals)
- ^ Staff Writer. "Stellar ideas keep astronomy in state." Arizona Republic. November 19, 2006. Retrieved on October 14, 2007.
- ^ Utah’s Natural Bridges National Monument Becomes First International Dark Sky Park (press release)
- ^ Kihirdették az új sötétégbolt-parkokat: Zselic is köztük van!
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/8361244.stm
External links
- The IDA's official website
- International Dark-Sky Places
- Flagstaff Dark Skies website
- Lighting for the human circadian clock: recent research indicates that lighting has become a public health issue, Medical Hypotheses, Volume 63, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 588-596, Stephen M. Pauley. Abstract
- Meade 4M Community website
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