The Prescott Astronomy Club is again offering a kaleidoscope of free events about night skies in 2012, including its first-ever documentary showing. The club's 2012 presentations open Thursday with a talk about airborne astronomy from Ted Dunham, deputy director of technology at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. Dunham is working on SOPHIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, that will start its science operations this year.
It's one of the "Third Thursday" talks that begin at 6:30 p.m. on some third Thursdays of the month at the Prescott Public Library. The club's popular star parties and educational talks attract hundreds of local residents each year. The club also gives free presentations at local schools and summer camps. "Our mission is basically the education of the public and our members," Astronomy Club past president Patrick Birck said.
Prescott Astronomy Club President David Viscio, an astrophotographer and retired physical chemist, said he was hooked on science at age 10 when he first saw the moon through a telescope. "Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs make major contributions to the science," Viscio noted. "And seeing the night sky really gives you an appreciation for the universe you live in."
Experts from around the state help the club with free presentations. "We're kind of blessed around here," since scientists from educational facilities such as Lowell Observatory and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott help out, Birck said. Club members are among the experts, such as physicist Fulton Wright, who will talk about the features of Earth's Moon alongside a star party at the Highlands Center for Natural History on Jan. 28.
'The City Dark' documentary
Now club members have purchased the rights to show a documentary called "The City Dark" at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at the Prescott Library. "Astronomers, cancer researchers. ecologists and philosophers provide glimpses of what is lost in the glare of city lights," says the film's website at thecitydark.com. "Blending a humorous, searching tone with poetic footage of the night sky, what unravels is an introduction to the science of the dark, and an exploration of the human relationship to the stars."
Filmmaker Ian Cheney explores how lights affect efforts in Hawaii to detect dangerous asteroids, birds trying to navigate over Chicago, breast cancer rates in humans, and newborn turtles trying to get from the Florida coast into the sea.
"They see the lights from the city and go the wrong direction," Birck said. The film features an epidemiologist who has shown a correlation between breast cancer and night-shift workers.
"The night cycle is very important for hormone balance," Viscio said. After the film, the club will lead a discussion about night skies. Club members want to get the community involved in the issue. "It's not just because you can't see the sky," Viscio said. "It could be a health issue, an environmental issue."
Birck and Viscio see the loss of their own night skies taking place, too. Birck said he can see his neighbors' lights inside his home from 150 yards away because Prescott doesn't do enough to protect its night skies.
Prescott limits outdoor residential lights to 70 watts, but doesn't require shielding as it does on commercial properties, said George Worley, the city's planning director. Viscio said his neighbors' lights shine into his bathroom. "It's the same as throwing garbage on your property," he said.