Meetings

Looking up at night to experience the thrill of a starry sky or gaze across a moonlit landscape is a memorable, magical experience. It’s a sad fact that many children will grow up never seeing the Milky Way, our own galaxy, because of the impact of artificial  light. These experiences are under threat from the increasing use of artificial light, but we can work together to maintain the beauty of the dark skies.

Light pollution not only limits our views of these skies but also disrupts natural patterns of activity and rest. It interrupts natural rhythms including migration, reproduction and feeding patterns. Light pollution can harm insects, bats, toads, birds, trees and even us! Man-made light is known to cause confusion to migrating birds, often with fatal outcomes, and many of us will have heard birds singing late into the night in trees lit by a streetlight. In the North Wessex Downs almost 15% of our sky is as dark as anywhere in the country.  Darkness at night is an integral part of the landscape and I hope we can ensure the AONB remains a place ‘‘where a sense of remoteness and tranquillity predominates and where vast night skies can thrill the eye, unaffected by light pollution”. We can all help to minimise light pollution and protect dark skies by:

• Installing lights only IF needed
• Shining lights only WHERE needed
• Using only AS MUCH light as needed
• Using lights only at times WHEN needed

Want to know more? Come along to our open meeting at the Community Centre on Thursday 19th March starting at 7:30pm. Andover Astronomical Society has invited representatives from the North Wessex Downs team, the Campaign for Dark Skies and local Wildlife Groups to tell us about the problems and what we can do. We’ll also learn about the best places to see the night skies. There will be leaflets and information packs to take away and, if the skies are clear, we will be able to look at the stars and planets with telescopes.

There’s no charge and tea and coffee will be available.