To receive its certification from the Phoenix-based International Dark Sky Association , the park's official non-profit partner Grand Canyon Conservancy raised $1 million to retrofit 1,750 lights to dark sky-friendly fixtures, largely on its light-polluted South Rim.
Relatively speaking, not bad. Grand Canyon National Park was already one of the most pristine night skies in the country; Sky Quality Meter readings of around 21.48 mag/arcsec2 were obtained recently. But that's not the whole toy. “Our goal with the retrofits was to keep it that way,” says Lane. There were some obviously problematic areas.
“We are exposing the threat of light pollution an awareness of dark skies to our six million visitors a year.”The $1 million Dark Skies program was funded by the Grand Canyon Conservancy, working closely with the IDA and National Park Service. Grand Canyon Conservancy is the nonprofit partner of the park, preserving the park’s world-renowned hiking trails, protecting the canyon’s rare wildlife and providing unique educational programs to the public.
Taking place on the North and South Rims of Grand Canyon, tomorrow’s week-long Star Party will see the telescopes of amateur astronomers pointed at planets, double stars, star clusters, nebulae and distant galaxies.
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