Flagstaff leads the way in celebrating International Dark Sky City Week
FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — It’s International Dark Sky City Week, and around the world, stargazers are commemorating efforts to keep the stars as visible as possible by keeping city lights to a minimum. These efforts all started in Flagstaff, the very first International Dark Sky City.
From stadiums to streetlights, most people are accustomed to having their nights lit up in the modern world. But only 20% of people in the U.S. can see the Milky Way when they gaze up into the night sky.
Danielle Adams with the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition said the city is one of the rare and lucky places in the world where the galaxy is on full display.
“Dark skies are for everyone,” Adams said. “There’s a really neat thing [that] happens when a whole city protects the night sky and that is that everyone gets to share the sky.”
Adams said Flagstaff has been celebrating its starry skies longer than Arizona has been a state.
“If you go back to 1892, Flagstaff started marketing itself as Skylight City,” she said. “In 1958, Flagstaff created the world’s first ordinance regulating how much light could go into the night sky.”
In 2001, the town became the first International Dark Sky City. Today, there are more than 200 dark sky places worldwide.
People driving around at night will notice that the town is lit with amber lights instead of normal streetlights. This is one of the many ways the town is protecting its dark skies.
Adams said the town regulates the amount of light pollution from businesses, but the biggest protection is orange lights at night.
“It doesn’t scatter as much in the sky, but more importantly, at night your eyes go into a black and white mode and the amber light is not as visible to your black and white vision,” she said.
From preserving Native American culture to astronomy and increasing astro-tourism, Adams said protecting dark skies is important.
“It’s better for humans, health, it’s better for wildlife,” Adams said. “But for me, it’s the human connection with the night sky.”
Dark sky events are happening all week, from stargazing downtown to local breweries releasing beers related to the dark sky. You can find more information here.
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