Death Valley – Source: darksky.org
The International Dark-Sky Association has announced the designation of two more International Dark-Sky places this week. The two new sites are:
- Death Valley National Park in California (now largest of all the dark-sky parks).
- Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales – designated the fifth dark-sky reserve.
Congratulations to both new designees and to the International Dark-Sky Association for promoting the protection of the night environment worldwide. The previous designees in these categories are the following:
|
NAME |
LOCATION |
YEAR |
TIER |
|
Natural Bridges National Monument |
Utah, USA |
2006 |
Gold |
|
Cherry Springs State Park |
Pennsylvania, USA |
2008 |
Gold |
|
Galloway Forest Park |
Scotland, UK |
2009 |
Gold |
|
Zselic National Landscape Protection Area |
Hungary |
2009 |
Silver |
|
Goldendale Observatory Park |
Washington, USA |
2010 |
Silver |
|
Clayton Lake State Park |
New Mexico, USA |
2010 |
Gold |
|
Hortobagy National Park |
Hungary |
2011 |
Silver |
|
Observatory Park |
Ohio, USA |
2011 |
Silver |
|
The Headlands |
Michigan, USA |
2011 |
Silver |
|
Big Bend National Park |
Texas, USA |
2012 |
Gold |
|
Death Valley National Park |
California, USA |
2013 |
Gold |
Source: International Dark-Sky Association
Name |
Location |
YEAR |
Tier |
| Mont Mégantic | Quebec, Canada | 2008 | Silver |
| Exmoor National Park | Devon and Somerset Counties, England, UK | 2011 | Silver |
| Aoraki Mackenzie | New Zealand | 2012 | Gold |
| NamibRand Nature Reserve | Namibia | 2012 | Gold |
| Brecon Beacons National Park | Wales, UK | 2013 | Silver |
Source: International Dark-Sky Association
problogic
Panethos 
FYI: When I was mobilized through the US Army and sent to Afghanistan in 2009, I learned that outside Kabul and Kandahar our outlying bases (I was at Camp Salerno in Khost..pronounced “host”..Province, about 15 miles east of the Pakistani border) maintained a policy known as “light discipline”. In other words, no lights whatsoever were visible outside buildings or tents. Therefore walking at night you could see virtually all the stars and constellations visible on a clear night. That aspect was beautiful! Since our installations were located in valleys and Afghanistan is a mountainous country, light discipline was necessary to mitigate and mortar or rocket attacks from higher elevations, so as to complicate targeting by insurgents. At any rate, it was beautiful just about any cloudless night there.
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Wow. Sounds gorgeous.
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Not everything was “bad” with being stationed in Afghanistan…if the Taliban weren’t “watching”, the Afghan people were genuinely a friendly people…(the Iraqis were close to being that way…)
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Too bad they cant live and let live.
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I know…in both countries…
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