Let There Be Night
October 14, 2009
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Community
Stargazer – With the help of a Google Earth map, a young astronomer stacks LEGO blocks onto a map of Indiana’s Penn-Harris-Madison school district to demonstrate the loss of visible night sky.
More than 3,400 students have stars in their eyes, thanks to a Toyota TAPESTRY program spotlighting nighttime light pollution.
Called “Let There Be Night,” the program enlightened elementary and junior high students from 14 South Bend-area schools in Indiana. Not only did the amateur astronomers measure the loss of visible night sky, they also shared light pollution solutions with school district and civic leaders.
“They created a community dialogue about outdoor lighting,” says Chuck Bueter, an independent educator who helped lead the project with teacher Art Klinger.
They did it with the help of a $10,000 grant from TAPESTRY, which has provided more than $7 million to school science projects during the past 16 years. Matching that grant with its own $10,000 donation was Jordan Toyota of Mishawaka, Ind. The contributions helped pay for everything from Sky Quality Meters that measure light to the production of educational DVDs distributed to 700 planetariums around the world.
In one of the nation’s biggest science experiments, thousands of students observed the constellation Orion from their backyards during the last two weeks of March. They then compared their views to six Orion star charts with varying levels of light pollution. Using that data, a student team built a model out of more than 35,000 LEGO blocks to show how much of the night sky has been lost.
Their conclusion? The night sky is nine times brighter than ideal.
Shedding Light on Light Pollution – The top map reflects the existing sky glow in an Indiana school district, while the debris field in the foreground depicts the amount of sky lost to light pollution. Each color of LEGO block corresponds to a level of light pollution, with red and orange representing areas with the most light pollution, followed by yellow, then green. Black and blue blocks represent the most pristine sky.
Among those benefiting from the program was benefactor Jordan Toyota. “We learned a lot, and we made changes,” says General Manager Bob Hayden. “I’d hate to be an offender myself. We changed our lighting schedule, the types of lights we use and the direction we point them. We’re not only saving money, we’re doing our part.”
TAPESTRY is now accepting entries for the 2009-2010 competition. To learn more about the grant application process, click on http://tapestry.nsta.org/. For more information about TAPESTRY and Toyota’s other philanthropic programs, click on www.toyota.com/community.
By Susan Pack