[Chaos-l] "Our Vanishing Night" - Morehead Planetarium, Tuesday 7:30 pm

[Amy Sayle]

Hi, CHAOS folks -

A reminder about our special star theater program Tuesday night, "Our 
Vanishing Night" --followed by brief walking tours of nearby outdoor 
lighting with representatives from UNC, the Town of Chapel Hill, and 
Duke Energy. All are welcome. The event is FREE.

We hope many of you will come. Please bring your family, friends, and 
neighbors. The lighting tours will be a great opportunity to provide 
your valuable feedback on the design of town and campus outdoor lighting.

If the weather behaves, we'd also love to have some of you bring 
telescopes to share the night sky with the public.

thanks,
Amy Sayle

Details:
OUR VANISHING NIGHT

Join Morehead Planetarium and Science Center on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 
at 7:30 p.m. in the Star Theater for a special FREE planetarium program, 
"Our Vanishing Night."

For generations, everyone experienced the breathtaking beauty of an 
unspoiled night sky, with views into our universe of thousands of stars, 
the Milky Way and even another galaxy. Inspired by the sky, those who 
came before us told imaginative stories about the patterns they saw in 
the stars. But when many of us go home tonight and look up, we may see 
little more than a washed-out orange glow.

During this program, we'll use the Zeiss VI star projector to reveal how 
light pollution --the illumination of Earth's atmosphere by outdoor 
lighting -- dims the thousands of stars and other celestial objects 
found in a natural dark sky. And we'll experience the sky studded with 
stars -- and stories -- as our ancestors did and as we and our children 
might, if we reduced light pollution.

Following the Star Theater presentation, join us for a short walking 
tour to consider how lighting can be designed to improve visibility and 
safety, while also minimizing light pollution and energy use. Back at 
the Morehead sundial, telescopes will be active (weather permitting). Be 
sure to check out Saturn.

Free. Part of UNC’s Earth Week celebration.

For more information:

http://moreheadplanetarium.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&filename=vanish.html 
<http://moreheadplanetarium.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&filename=vanish.html> 


Morehead Planetarium is at 250 E. Franklin Street, in downtown Chapel Hill.