Counting their lucky stars
Stewart Islanders turn down the street lights to seek Dark Sky status
Stewart Island’s gone to the dark side. Oneby-one this year, the island’s 38 highpressure sodium lights have been replaced with 3000k LED lights and four other bollard lights have given way to LED models that are fully shielded to shine their light straight down.
Although Stewart Island – population 380, give or take the odd visitor and positioned 30km across the Foveaux Strait from Bluff – is already described as intrinsically dark and exceptional for stargazing, this scheme to change the lights is part of a mission for it to become just that little bit darker and gain the coveted honour of being a Dark Sky Sanctuary. A decision from the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) is imminent on whether it will join the exclusive club of just four sanctuaries in the world considered to have distinguished starry nights and a nocturnal environment.
Advocates hope the status will help protect the island’s skies and encourage tourism. Invercargill astronomer Steve Butler says New Zealand’s skies are as worthy of protection as much as our bush and seas. He says he’s seen tourists arriving at Tekapo – already an International Dark Skies Reserve – and breaking down in tears. ‘‘If you get a really good dark sky you can almost reach out and touch the stars, it’s that sort of feeling. It’s just overwhelming looking up.’’
The Dark Sky Places Program, founded in 2001, has anointed 100 spots around the world including Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Golf, Cosmic Campground in New Mexico and Gabriela Mistral in Chile’s Valle del Elqu.
Stewart Island resident and photographer Sandra Whipp stumbled across the joys of night photography when taking photos of penguins and accidentally capturing amazing images of the sky. “It just lit up.’’
And although she says her island home has always been known for its exceptional night skies – 85 per cent of the land is a national park and virtually free of artificial light and it’s Maori name of Rakiura translates as ‘‘the land of the glowing skies’’ – Whipp is convinced a successful application to become a Dark Sky Sanctuary would boost visitor numbers.
That application process, though, is complex. To qualify, the sanctuary must be on legally protected, publicly accessible land; must provide exceptional dark skies where the night sky brightness is routinely measured equal to or darker than 21.5 magnitudes per square arc second (typically a bright suburb where you can’t see the Milky Way would be around 18); and must show its commitment by enforcing rules to limit lighting – hence the disappearing street lights.
A sample plan suggests permitting outdoor lighting only for safety reasons, road lighting restricted to intersections, using high-reflective road signs, not lighting trails and ensuring visitors provide their own lighting.
To conform, a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Department of Conservation, local iwi, the Rakiura Maori Lands Trust, the Stewart Island community board, Venture Southland and the Stewart Island Promotions Association, to implement a lighting management plan, monitor the quality of the sky and promote and provide education about the sanctuary.