Jacy Marmaduke

jmarmaduke@coloradoan.com

The stars are dimming over Fort Collins as the city swells, but not all hope is lost for our night skies.

City leaders are greeting washed-out night skies with a call for updated lighting standards for homes, streets and businesses.

Before you dismiss the move as bureaucratic drivel, consider this: You can gaze upon the Milky Way from a Walmart parking lot in Flagstaff, Arizona, population 70,000. In the southern half of Castle Rock, 30-some miles from Denver to Fort Collins’ 65, a black, star-studded sky belies the city’s population of 57,000.

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Both cities have cutting-edge policies in place that regulate outdoor lighting to curb light pollution. If Fort Collins does the same, it can prevent light pollution from severing the community’s link to the cosmos.

“We just aren’t connected enough to the universe around us,” said Andy Caldwell, director of Fort Collins’ Stargazer Observatory and an astronomy instructor at Front Range Community College. “We need to understand that we’re part of a bigger picture, we’re part of the universe. And if you can’t go out at night and see it, then it’s out of sight, out of mind.”

Here’s an easy way to understand just how light-polluted Fort Collins has become: A nice, dark sky — picture the stars above the Grand Canyon — is about 30 percent brighter than the night sky free of light pollution.

Central Fort Collins, on the other hand, is now 1,400 percent brighter than the natural night sky.

You can see Jupiter, the Big Dipper and a smattering of stars, but you’ll have to hit the outskirts of town to spy the Milky Way. Light-polluted skies don’t give way to a celestial wonderland for about 60 miles.

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Light pollution pretty much starts and ends with outdoor lighting. Bare bulbs, charming old-fashioned streetlamps, floodlights pointed at a sign for a business, anything that isn’t totally shielded and pointing straight down contributes to light pollution. So do white-toned lights compared to yellow- and amber-toned lights.

Fort Collins changed its residential building codes in 2014 to require new single-family homes to use outdoor lighting fixtures with a seal of approval from the International Dark Sky Association. But apartment complexes and commercial buildings don’t have to do that.

Ginny Sawyer, city project and policy manager, hopes to make the lighting standards universal for new structures by the end of the year. It’s difficult to change standards for existing buildings, but city leaders hope education can fill the gap.

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Even if it can’t, updated building codes will help bring back the stars as structures are torn down and renovated.

If you’re wondering how you can help preserve the stars above Fort Collins, city staff and local stargazers have one piece of advice: Change your porch light. The International Dark Sky Association has a page online devoted to outdoor lighting guidelines.

“The general reaction is, oh, it’s just one light, it’s not going to make much of a difference,” said Greg Halac, outreach coordinator for the Northern Colorado Astronomical Society. “But multiply that by 100,000, and it does.”

Other city strategies to save our stars

Streetlights: The city operates more than 30,000 of them, but changing all their bulbs in one fell swoop would be pricey. The city is opting instead to test different kinds of lighting as bulbs burn out, experimenting with different color spectrums and brightness levels. Experimental streetlights are being used at city hall and the city's building at 215 N. Mason St.

Natural areas: City leaders want dark-sky certification for all of them. Fort Collins’ natural areas and Larimer County’s open space departments are applying for “dark sky park” recognition for Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Red Mountain Open Space, respectively. (Those areas are among the darkest in the county.) The International Dark Sky Association label recognizes the areas for “possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment.”

Where to stargaze in Fort Collins

The Northern Colorado Astronomical Society holds stargazing events. Visit nocoastro.org for more information.

The Stargazer Observatory at Observatory Village in southeast Fort Collins holds open houses during the third Saturday of the month, weather permitting. Visit stargazerobservatory.com for more information.

The Sunlight Peak Observatory at Front Range Community College’s Fort Collins campus is generally open to the public four nights a week. Visit facebook.com/sunlightpeak for more information.

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