Sky Quality Meter – Norfolk Island Magical Dark Skies

During the last few weeks, the Norfolk Island night skies have been clear, and I have enjoyed getting out and enjoying the starry dark skies. It is so amazing to spend time outside watching the milky way, the thousands of stars, and galaxies as they slowly move across the sky. It was also nice listening to the local birds, as the ghost birds settle in their borrows along with Morepork owls and white terns up in the surrounding trees.

Apart from learning the skills of astrophotography I am also passionate in protecting our dark skies for future generations and for protecting wildlife, birds, and marine life, as well as the health of those living on Norfolk Island, as light pollution can affect everyone.

The aim is to get Norfolk Island accredited as a Dark Sky Place with the IDA, the International Dark Sky Association, and have protection of our Norfolk Island Magical Dark Skies. The Norfolk Island Regional Council, NIRC, has had a draft copy of the “Norfolk Island Lighting Management Policy”, for the past few years, but we are still waiting for NIRC to endorse the document.

Also needed to apply for IDA Dark Sky Place, data and photographs are required to document the light levels in the area. To assist with collection of this information, Dr Kelly Pendoley recently visited from Australia and gave me a Sky Quality Meter, SQM, to use for these readings. Kelly has been a member of the IDA and is a founding member of the ADSA, Australasian Dark Sky Association and in recent years, Kelly has been supporting the proposal for Norfolk Island to apply for the IDS Dark Sky Place accreditation.

To survey the dark sky light readings, the evening needs clear skies with stars and no moon, plus I need to wait a couple of hours after the sun has set. Clouds can affect the readings as they reflect light, and the moon will make it too bright.

How dark do you think our night skies are? we know they are dark, but it is great I can now take data readings to record the levels. There has been a few fantastic viewing nights during the last couple of weeks, our dark areas are international standard, reading almost 22 in dark areas, and readings drop to 20 in the new lighting areas, showing the introduction of these lights do affect the light pollution. It is interesting to note that these new lights still remain on after 11pm, when no one is walking the footpaths, it would be excellent if they were to have timers and hoods to direct the light to the ground.

On 18 and 26 December 2022, the night skies were perfect, and I drove around Norfolk Island recording the SQM readings, I went up Mt Pitt, downtown to Kingston and to St Barnabas Chapel where I also took photos. I will share some photographs, this is what can be seen when there is no light pollution.

The Kingston area is always stunning on a dark night, but recently the New Military Barracks light appears to stay on well after midnight. The Quality Sky Meter reading in the Kingston New Military Barracks was Bortle scale “Level 9, - reading 16.3” - making the light pollution as bright as an inner-city lights, I will make a few phone calls and see if the timer can be reset for the historic building lights. The sky glow for this very bright light can even be seen up at the airport area.

The Sky Quality Meter Bortle Scale readings start at “Level 1, reading 23” for perfect dark skies – the BEST and drop down to “Level 9, reading under 17” for

BAD light pollution, blinding the stars, which is what is expected in cities and industrial areas with bright lights and reflective building materials.

Average Dark Sky Quality Metre readings Sunday 18 December 2022

Level 1, - 21.95 - St Barnabas Chapel - (Excellent Dark Sky)
Level 2, - 21.8 - Home, Douglas Drive - (Typical Truly Dark Site)
Level 2, - 21.8 - Mt Pitt - (Typical Truly Dark Site)
Level 3, - 21.6 - Airport - (Rural Sky)
Level 4, - 20.9 - Douglas Drive footpath lights area - (Rural/Suburban Transmission)
level 5, - 20.0 - Roundabout - lights, at Ferny Lane Theatre - (Suburban Sky)

Average Dark Sky Quality Metre readings Boxing Day 26 December 2022

Level 1, - 21.9 - Home, Douglas Drive - (Excellent Dark Sky)

Level 2, - 21.7 - St Barnabas Chapel - (Typical Truly Dark Site)

Level 2, - 21.7 - Pops Corner, Emergency Management Airport - (Typical Truly Dark Site)

Level 2, - 21.7 - Kingston Pier - (Typical Truly Dark Site)

Note: (Bortle Scale) - Sky Quality Meter
Level 1 - Best 23, NO Light Pollution, - dark starry skies - (Excellent Dark Skies)
Level 9 - Bad 17, High Light Pollution - city lights - blinding out the stars - (Inner City)

https://www.handprint.com/ASTRO/bortle.html

http://www.cleardarksky.com/lp/SydnyNSlp.html?Mn=CCD

Check these sites if you would like to read more about the Bortle scale.

https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/7cccrn/light_pollution_map_of_australia_and_new_zealand/

The image of Australia and New Zealand from space/satellites were recorded 5 years ago 2017, an image of NZ and Australia light pollution.

My next challenge is gathering GPS data for the readings and entering the SQM readings on the international Light Pollution map app. It will be fantastic to get our dark sky readings logged to share with others. Thank you, Dr Kellie Pendoley from Australasian Dark Sky Association, ADSA, for kindly bringing the Sky Quality Meter, SQM, to Norfolk Island so I can record the Norfolk Island data. We appreciate Kellie helping with her knowledge of protecting our dark skies from light pollution. Here is a few details about her expert work, Dr Kelly Pendoley has been involved with environment areas as well as international dark sky protection.

Dr. Kellie Pendoley, Australia

Dr. Kellie Pendoley has been an active and powerful defender of the natural environment for nearly forty years. Over the last twenty years, she has played a pivotal role in measuring and implementing management strategies that protect the natural nighttime environment. As the Executive Director and Principal Scientist at Pendoley Environmental, Dr. Pendoley has been involved in countless projects throughout Australia that address the ecological impact of light pollution leading to the development of a novel method for quantifying and monitoring light pollution.

Her commitment to the issue of light pollution was formally recognized with her election to the board of directors for the International Dark-Sky Association in 2015 and again in 2019 when she became one of nine inaugural directors of the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance (ADSA). Through this role, she co-developed ADSA Approved, the first Australian lighting certification system with a dedicated certification for wildlife. In 2020 she developed the National Light Pollution Guidelines for Wildlife, including marine turtles, seabirds, and migratory shorebirds. The Conference of the Parties endorsed these guidelines to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS). The resolution endorsing the guidelines called on 133 countries that are party to the CMS to raise awareness of the impacts of artificial light on wildlife. Finally, Dr. Pendoley is an accomplished peer-reviewed scientist with over 60 published scientific reports and peer-reviewed journal articles and is regularly invited to present at national and international conferences on light pollution impacts, measurement and monitoring techniques, and wildlife conservation.

In October 2022, Dr Kelly Pendoley received an international award, the Crawford Hunter Lifetime Achievement Award. This award represents the highest honour that IDA bestows upon individuals who, in the course of their lifetime, have contributed an extraordinary effort to light pollution abatement.

If there are members of the Norfolk Island community interested in learning more about protecting our dark skies, please let me know, contact me on Facebook messenger. It would be great to get the documents organised for a Norfolk Island Dark Sky Place application for 2023

Betty Matthews

December 2022