IDA PGH News Aug 2021

Hello all,

It’s almost time for fall colors, pumpkin spice, apple cider, and cooler temperatures!

The next meeting is Wednesday, September 22nd at 7pm. At the meeting we will discuss ongoing projects and any new projects!

That meeting will be our last purely Zoom meeting, and our last quarterly meeting. We’re going back to monthly meetings. We want to be prepared to go into 2022 due to the below news, ready to attend many events around the city to spread the word about light pollution!

We will be going back to in person meetings in October (Covid restrictions-permitting). We will be going to hybrid meetings then, with it being in person, but Zoom for those that can’t make it due to traffic, time commitments, and other reasons. I am asking for ideas for places to meet up, so if you know of one with a reliable internet connection, please let me know!

Zoom invites will be sent out on Monday, September 20th via the newsletter group. On to the news!

Pittsburgh’s Dark Sky Ordinance

The city held a press conference on Tuesday 8/24 announcing the new Dark Sky Ordinance, which is part of the street light project. You can see the official announcement here, along with being able to read the ordinance at the bottom of the page.

It’s been a long time coming, I’m proud of the work accomplished!

If anyone you know has any questions about it, feel free to have them email me (my email address is below).

Mars New Year

Real quick I’d like to ask again for volunteers for the Mars New Year celebration happening in…. well, Mars, PA.

We’ll be at a table and talking to any visitors who walk by about the effects of light pollution, give good lighting examples, and we’ll have some brochures to hand out. We will also have a slideshow playing on a monitor for visitors to view. We only need 1-2 volunteers per day, but more is welcome! If you want to know more, check out http://marsnewyear.com/

Location:

Downtown Mars, PA. There will be signs for parking. I’m not exactly sure which street exhibits are on, but Mars is a small town and I’ve been told we’ll be along the main strip.

Dates:

August 27th from 5pm to 10pm

August 28th from Noon to 10pm

There will be food vendors there, and a nifty drone show at 10pm both days!

Apologies for the short notice, but if you are free this weekend and can help out, please email me at dburt@idapgh.org or just find the table!

If you can’t volunteer but happen to attend, please grab some pictures of us and send them to me!

Stay safe and enjoy the end of summer!

March 2021 News

I hope you all are ready for the warm weather that we will soon have.

The next meeting is Wednesday, March 24th at 7pm. At the meeting we will discuss ongoing projects and International Dark Sky Week.

Zoom invites will be sent out on Monday, March 22nd via the newsletter group. On to the news!

Projects

The city has finished the inventory of the streetlights owned by the city. They are now in the process of deciding the vendor for the lights. While it sounds like it can move fast, there is still months ahead in this project. We expect some public outreach events in the fall before work begins to replace them.

IDA PA News

Mike Lincoln is looking for IDA members in Pennsylvania to join the board of directors. If you are a paying member of the IDA, keep an eye out for an email from him if you are willing to participate.

Speaking of IDA PA, no news yet as to whether or not we will be attending Cherry Springs Star party. They DO want IDA PA there, it is just based on whether or not the event happens.

Events

Dark sky week is April 5-12th.

We will be working on putting together an event for the week during the meeting, as the livestream will not be happening this year.

On March 22nd, Diane will be showing off her tiny home and talking about light pollution while doing so. You can check it out here:

https://doorsopenpgh.org/2021/02/14/pittsburgh-astonomers-tiny-abode/

Earth Hour is on March 27th.

Find out how you can help here: https://www.earthhour.org

Diane is speaking again at the Frick!

April 8, 2021
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Location:

Online (Zoom)

Cost:

This program is offered free to all participants through the generous support of Frick Societies donors; advance registration required on this page.

Description:

The night sky, whether full of stars or forebodingly dark, has been an inspiration for artists and writers for centuries. At the same time, illuminating the darkness has been a challenge taken on by humans as part of our attempts to master our environments and create new ones. In this program, we explore the historical and inspirational facets of the night sky through paintings, stories, and the history of Pittsburgh’s illumination in the 19th century. Featuring: Dr. Elisabeth Roark, art history professor at Chatham University; Diane Turnshek, astronomy lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University and author of Triangulation: Dark Skies; and Dr. Joel Tarr, history professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

That is all for this month, stay safe!

February 2021 News

Hello all,

Even though COVID-19 has slowed a lot of events and organizations to a crawl, IDA PGH, IDA PA, and the main IDA are still working to reduce light pollution. So, lets get into the news!

Meetings

Our last meeting had a larger turnout than normal! It was outstanding. We discussed many things, which I will list below. However, we would love to see more of you at the next one, which will be on Wednesday, March

Zoom invites will be sent out closer to the meeting via the newsletter group, so if you are reading this on the website please do sign up at the bottom of any page on the website. On to the news!

IDA Pittsburgh News

Streetlight Project

The streetlight project is ongoing. In a few months there will be meetings to propose the model of streetlights. We are recommending they are 2700k, shielded, and dimmable. Many new streetlights come with many bells and whistles, and while the model proposed will have the option to add bells and whistles, we are only recommending the ability to remotely control them for emergency/event purposes. These lights will be fully shielded and dimmable. Once those meetings finish, it’s estimated in around 6 months the city will be working on picking the installation crews.

As we get closer to the city installing these lights, we will be talking to the general public via town halls and likely some news coverage.

When the project begins and as it is ongoing, we’d also like to ask those willing to take sky quality meter readings or use visual observations to note the changes.

City-Owned Buildings

There are meetings coming up to convert parks and facilities to dark sky friendly lighting. This is for city owned properties, and it’s in the very early stages of discussion. No installation plans have been made yet, so as the project continues we will let you all know!

Presentation at the Frick Museum

They enjoyed our talk! Quite a few comments from the audience and hosts about the impacts of light pollution. There is a plan to have a star party later this year once things open back up!

Star Parties

At this time, there are star parties planned at Wagman Observatory, and a few others around the area, however, they are ALL tentative. Keep in mind that the status of the virus, vaccinations, and state-level allowances for gatherings may or may not cancel these events. We are still collecting the dates to add to the calendar.

That said, we have reached out to the coordinator of the Cherry Springs Star Party to try to get IDA Pennsylvania in attendance as a vendor. The dates for the Cherry Springs Star Party are June 10th -13th this year. If you would like to volunteer to go, please email dburt@idapgh.org. Keep in mind they will only provide 4 tickets for volunteers, so if you were planning on going anyways and have already bought a ticket, just let Daylon know if you will be there anyways!

International Dark Sky Week

International Dark Sky Week is the first full week of April this year, April 5th through April 12th. It will be entirely virtual again, with many presentations from all over the world at varying times. There are many topics discussed each year, and we’re planning on participating!

Daylon is planning on putting together a live stream that discusses how light pollution has changed the landscape for astrophotography. Daylon will host as the “relative newcomer” to the hobby, given he’s only been taking photos for a few years. But, he is looking for a few guests: someone that’s been an astrophotographer for about a decade, and someone who has a few decades under their belt imaging the stars. It will mostly be a round table discussion about the changes, but a few questions to help guide topics will be asked. We are aiming for thirty minutes to an hour for this discussion. With that said, volunteers are needed!

The live stream will be hosted on Daylon’s newly established Astrophotography YouTube channel (found here, please visit and show some support!) and also streamed on the IDA PGH Facebook group. The main IDA will also stream it to the events page on the Dark Sky Week website and their Facebook group. So, volunteers will need to be comfortable with being shown to a worldwide audience. If you are interested, please email Daylon with the email mentioned above in the Cherry Springs Section!

That is all for the news this month, stay healthy under clear, dark skies everyone!

Join Us on January 26th!

Join us on January 26th between 7-8pm over Zoom as Diane Turnshek, Steve Quick, Mike Lincoln, and Daylon Burt engage in a panel discussion about light pollution with the Frick museum in Pittsburgh. Unless you are a member of the Frick, there is an admission cost of $5 if you are a student, or $10 for non members of the Frick. We hope to see you there!

Link to Event!

July 2020 Update for IDA PGH

Hello all, we hope you are healthy and safe.

To start the news, we will have a meeting on Wednesday, July 29th, at 7pm. Because of limitations of group gatherings, we will have the meeting via Zoom. I will send the email to register for the Zoom meeting towards the end of next week to everyone signed up for the newsletter, so if you aren’t signed up, please do sign up!

We will discuss the status of all of the projects going on, and if there are any new ones anyone would like to propose or help with, please attend and speak up!

IDA PGH in The News:

In the past couple of months, IDAPGH has been the topic of a few articles. Both focus on the streetlight project:

The Verge interview

WESA.fm interview

COVID-19 Cancellations for Astronomy:

From the Amateur Astronomer’s Association of Pittsburgh, dated July 8th, 2020:

Please note that all AAAP public events have been suspended indefinitely in response to the current pandemic. Wagman (Allegheny Co) and Mingo (Washington Co) Observatories are located in county parks, both of which close at dusk. In adherence with county park rules, members of the public are reminded that access and use of observatory grounds is strictly prohibited when the park is closed (between dusk to dawn and when otherwise posted by the county).

Carnegie Science Center is reopening the planetarium as part of the reopening program, but Skywatch is suspended until further notice.

Website updates:

There are two items I would like assistance with:

1. There are still some stock photos on the website. I would like our photographers to help replace them with something that is “Pittsburgh” but also captures the light pollution in the city.

2. I am asking for a helping hand with running the website and social media pages.

That’s all I have for now. Stay safe and healthy, and hope to see you on July 29th!

IDA PGH May COVID-19 Update

Hello all! I hope all is well!

While summer is coming soon, I sadly have to relay the message that Star Parties in the area have been cancelled. All Amateur Astronomer’s Association of Pittsburgh Star Parties have been cancelled until September. Due to this, the one we were planning in August has also been cancelled. We’ll be working on making it happen in 2021!

Until then, I urge you all to keep up talking to others about light pollution. As things open back up, take a look around and reach out!

International Dark Sky Week - Let's Dim Pittsburgh's Lights!

Hello! I hope all of you reading this are well, and staying safe. With the recent events and less travel happening, pollution is disappearing. Multiple astronomers are noting how clear the sky looks with less air traffic (and ground traffic, for that matter). The water in Venice is clearing up. Let’s add some light pollution reduction to the mix! What is light pollution? Check out this page: https://www.idapgh.org/lpbasics

With International Dark Sky week fast approaching, April 19th through the 26th, let’s plan to see the stars from our backyards while we are all at home.

While we are in this challenging time, let’s bring back some beauty and wonder to our lives. The night sky is amazing to behold, and is always enjoyable to look at.

How?

Business owners: if you are closed anyways, turn off your advertising signs and any decorative lights. Leave on only your security lights.

Downtown business owners. We understand you have to keep some lighting on the tall buildings. For those of you that can, please dim them and if possible, turn them red. Red lights scatter less harsh than white or blue-white lights, and will help dim things down. If possible, have someone turn off the lights in rooms inside the building that aren’t in use.

Everyone at home: Turn off your porch lights, and cover any inside window where a light is required. And again, please turn off decorative lights.

More lights we get turned off, the darker the sky, and the more stars you can see. Doing this will help ease the electricity bill throughout this as well!

Where?

Everywhere, really. While this is IDA Pittsburgh, anyone who reads this should participate!

When?

All of Dark Sky week! When it’s clear, pop outside and look up. Bundle up if it’s chilly! Or sit inside a dark room and look out the window. Just give yourself 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust, and shield yourself from any direct lights, like a street light or cars driving nearby.

If you are in a dense area, please use caution and practice social distancing! If you have to walk a little, bring a flashlight but point it down in case someone else nearby is looking up!

Of course, to ease your electric bills you could turn the lights off now and just leave them off until we are all back to normal.

What will you be able to see?

Shortly after sunset, the real bright one to the west is Venus. If you have a telescope or binoculars, take a look! It has phases just like the moon, head over to https://www.facebook.com/IDApghOrg/ to comment on the post for this, and tell us which phase you saw!

Looking a little southwest, the constellation Orion sits, with his sword ready for you to find the nebula. Even small binoculars will give a great view of the Orion Nebula.

Going to be up early mornings instead? Mars is close to Jupiter (from our perspective), and Saturn is nearby as well. They are the bright ones to the south just before sunrise. To the east right before sunrise is Mercury.

Of course, there are many, many more things to look at in the sky, check out https://earthsky.org/tonight for a more expanded list.

Let’s see how we can band together from home, and shine some star light into this dark time! Please share!

Stay safe and healthy!

IDA Pittsburgh COVID-19 update

Hello IDA PGH!

This morning I received an email from the Executive Director of the main IDA. He suggested we suspend any group meetings until May 11th. While we did not have any meetings scheduled, we were asking for help in outreach at star parties in the area. At this time, until the all-clear is given by the medical industry, I am asking you to only continue outreach online. Please do talk to people online about the impacts of light pollution, with more emphasis on health during this trying time. Of course, iterate on all of the impacts!

Most of the star parties in the area have already been cancelled anyway, keep an eye on https://www.idapgh.org/calendar for updates on which star parties are still proceeding as scheduled. We will try to keep it as up to date as possible.

With that in mind, a few events were planned nationally, primarily International Dark Sky Week, which is April 19-26. There are ideas being put together for online engagement that week. As I get information, I will forward it.

As for the recent meeting, it went very well, and I have some notes to pass along. I will get the newsletter with the notes to you all later this week.

Stay safe and healthy,

Daylon Burt

IDA PGH is meeting next week!

Hello all! Just wanted to put out the reminder that we are meeting next week, on Wednesday, March 11th at Allegheny Observatory. We will meet at 6:30 PM and the meeting will last until roughly 8PM. We have tons to discuss, including the website changes, star parties, and projects! Parking is free, and the meeting is open to the public, so bring a friend or family member!

Hello Facebook!

While we’ve had a Facebook account for a while, we haven’t had a lot of interaction between our Facebook group and the main website, idapgh.org. Time for that to change. Hello Facebook followers! In case you weren’t aware, the website has recently gone through changes! Flip through it, check it out, critique my grammar, if you must! But, this post is to make sure cross posting works as intended. Don’t worry, it’ll mainly be used for news, we won’t spam your Facebook feed.

While work is being done on the website, one thing we are looking for, is pictures of Pittsburgh at night. It can be a wide field shot of the downtown skyline, or something on just one street in a neighborhood! As you flip through the website checking out the changes, any picture not credited is one provided by the website host for free - we need to replace those! Throughout the year, as you attend astronomy events around the city, make sure to take pictures of any IDA PGH member you see! An image gallery with us out and about is being created, we need to fill it up! You can email the pictures to me at dburt@idapgh.org and I’ll post them. If you are a photographer with a blog/website, include it so visitors can see your other work!

Looking forward to the plans for 2020, it’s going to be an astronomically good year!

Daylon Burt - President, IDA Pittsburgh