Identification and verification of Dark Sky Parks in Germany

Transcription

1 Identification and verification of Dark Sky Parks in Germany Dark-Sky Parks Symposium Montsec June 2011 Working Group DARK SKY der Vereinigung der Sternfreunde Andreas Hänel Planetarium, Museum am Schölerberg, Osnabrück How can dark sky places be identified? Sky brightness, Cinzano atlas 1997 Upward light, DMSP map

2 Satellite data (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) raw data for every night geo-referenced and combined data for whole World on www: version

3 Satellite data (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) ~300 MB unzipped -> picture size: x Pixel, 700 MB not readable with a conventional graphics program! GIS programm 5 DMSP data used in UK for Night Blight 6 3

4 Further reductions with smaller areas (e.g. central Europe) -> use of astronomical data reduction software: adapt grey values (1-63) calculations (subtraction...) colour palette (like Night Blight) Astronomy Software: Iris (C. Buil, freeware) AstroArt... 7 How can dark sky places be verified? limiting magnitude (subjective) Bortle scale (subjective) zenithal sky brightness (SQM-L): 21.8 mag/arcsec² OMI integrated sky brightness (all sky photometry) 4

5 Nationalpark Eifel at border to Belgium, near Bonn/Köln/Aachen within nature park Hohes Venn-Eifel 2700 km² astronomical tradition: observatory Hoher List 25 m radio Stockert 100 m radio Effelsberg national park since 2004, 107 km² wood - water - wilderness military terrain Vogelsang > protect sky Nationalpark Eifel view -> Vogelsang/national park Dernau valley river Ahr (direct light <-> reflected from houses) 5

6 Measuring sky brightness with the SQM/SQM-L handy tool simple measurements but know and respect the limits! tests by Pierantonio Cinzano geopositions with GPS exact positions waypoints with SQM measurement navigation tool to search dark places Naturpark/Nationalpark SQM-L measurements in 12/2008 Eifel > more from Harald 6

7 DER SPIEGEL 7/2009 dark sky reserve in Schottland EUROPARC Germany: National Natural Landscapes 101 nature parks (26%) MAN and nature 16 biosphere reserves (3,6%) man and nature 14 national parks (0.55%) man and NATURE 7

8 Natural Landscapes and Dark Skies TERRA.vita, Osnabrück nature and UNESCO GeoPark, densely populated 8

9 TERRA.vita, Osnabrück UNESCO GeoPark, densely populated TERRA.vita, Osnabrück

10 TERRA.vita, Osnabrück TERRA.vita, Osnabrück

11 TERRA.vita, Osnabrück Variation during time (Holzhausen) 11

12 Seasonal variation (Holzhausen, SQM-L) screening by vegetation Variation during night (Osnabrück Museum, SQM-LU) switch-off 12

13 Variation during night (Holzhausen, SQM-L) Naturpark Westhavelland Touristic undevelopped region, nature reserve: darkest region in Germany discussion about 21.7 mag/arcsec² 70 km west of Berlin 13

14 Naturpark Westhavelland Havel - water reservoir, swamps important stop for migratory birds cranes, wild geese, bustard FFH, RAMSAR 1315 km² Naturpark Westhavelland 04/2009 Zodiacal light 14

15 Naturpark Westhavelland zodical light Naturpark Westhavelland North, Gegenschein,

16 Naturpark Westhavelland gradient S > N (Rathenow) gradient E -> W (Berlin) Naturpark Westhavelland

17 Naturpark Westhavelland mag/arcsec²! 4 measurement campains Naturpark Westhavelland corrected values through reference points: Milky Way cloud cover transmission 17

18 Naturpark Westhavelland lighting inventory Village Luminaires Upward light [Lumen] Switch-off Wolsier % 21:30-5:00 Spaatz Elslaake-Kohlhof Schönholz % 22:00-5:00 Witzke Lochow Dickte Görne Joachimshof Neuhof :00-5:00 Roddahn :00-5:00 Babe Rübehorst :00-5:00 Buchhorst 2 0 Naturpark Westhavelland estimation upward light 18

19 Naturpark Westhavelland 1. 4 darks sky reserves 2. Extension after replacement Comparison with other dark regions 19

20 PNR Causses de Quercy Rocamadour Switch-off at 24:00 before - after Nature Park Causses de Quercy -> center of park

21 Montsec Comparison Causses de Quercy - Montsec

22 Comparison with other dark regions La Palma 21.6 Lastovo Palma W-Havelland 21.4 mag/arcsec² Biosphärenreservat Rhön Land of great panoramic views 1850 km²; Wasserkuppe 950 m 22

23 Biosphärenreservat Rhön Land of great panoramic views Biosphärenreservat Rhön illumination of church 23

24 Lange Rhön mag/arcsec² No Entry! Zenit: mag/arcsec² (no Milky Way!) 24

25 Biosphärenreservat Rhön mag/arcsec²! Biosphärenreservat Rhön mag/arcsec²!

26 Biosphärenreservat Rhön DMSP 2009 Biosphärenreservat Rhön Lange Rhön no parking allowed parking at the borders similar dark 26

27 Federal Structure of Germany 3 Länder UNESCO-Biosphärenreservat Rhön 3 administrations ARGE Rhön Verein Natur- und Lebensraum Rhön e.v. Naturpark Hessische Rhön Naturpark Bayrische Rhön Rhönklub e.v. Rhönforum e.v. Who can apply for Dark Sky Park? Nationalpark Harz climates m bogs, forest, high mountains Lynx Geo park, mining tradition UNESCO heritage 247 km² 27

28 Nationalpark Harz sky brightness mag/arcsec² Nationalpark Harz illuminated mountains sky beamer 28

29 Nationalpark Harz telescope meeting/star party St. Andreasberg 29

30 St. Andreasberg Reduction of lighting - switch off, data: M. Koch 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 19,00 19,50 20,00 20,50 21,00 21,50 22,00 30

31 Torfhaus 31

32

33 Elend 33

34 Zodiacal light and Gegenschein Gegenschein: m stars ~ 0.15 mcd/m² ~ mag/arcsec² (Leinert) natural dark sky: 21.7 mag/arcsec² ~ 0.23 mcd/m² dark sky: 21.4 mag/arcsec² ~ 0.30 mcd/m² Naturpark Westhavelland Nationalpark Harz Biosphärenreservat Rhön Dark Sky Park Zselic, Ungarn Lastovo, Kroatien La Palma, Spanien 34

35 Conclusions useful to find dark sky places! DMSP more recent (2009 <-> 1997) DMSP have higher resolution (individual places) DMSP: relative values Cinzano maps values Cinzano maps coarse spatial resolution (smearing) too broad levels ( mag/arcsec²) >21.3 about 0.5 mag/arcsec² too bright? go to the places and test them! Lastovo D mod. 800 ASA 1:1.4, 30 mm, 30 s 35

36 36