One small step for darker skies....

We all know that light pollution is one of the major factors that screws up our hobby, and view of the night skies that we used to see when we were kids. There was a test given to kids in a city once where a question was "what color is the night sky?", the kid that answered "pink!" was correct.
When I was a kid, I remember lying out in the backyard on summer nights in a sleeping bag on the back lawn, I'd sleep out there and often wake up when I rolled over on the slug on my pillow. Anyway, there was still a stripe of the Milky Way visible across the skies in Bellevue, WA back then. Now, it's just that familiar pink color between the 92 stars, the moon, and an occasional planet that can be still seen.
There is some good news, it seems that the city of Tumwater just passed an ordinance to reduce light pollution. Good for them! Skies are already darker down there, but this is a start. I'm hoping that the darkness creeps north to the Seattle area over time (white area with the "+" on the map on right).

| More on Greg Sheiderer's article in Examiner.com |