Light pollution threatening McDonald Observatory

The growing oil and gas industry has been great for West Texas, but the growth has brought with it increased light pollution, especially at the McDonald Observatory, located within the Davis Mountains near Fort Davis.

The area has seen tremendous growth. In 2012 alone, more than 9,000 drilling permits were issued, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas.

But the dark skies at the observatory, run by the University of Texas at Austin, are being threatened by the increased light pollution in West Texas and the Permian Basin region, something observatory spokesman Bill Wren says is a major setback for the facility, he told The Daily Texan.

“The places you can go to see a naturally dark sky are vanishing. We are raising people that have never seen a naturally dark sky,” Wren told The Daily Texan. “This is not an anti-light campaign. It's about putting the light where it’s needed.”

The International Dark-Sky Association, which was founded in 1988 to increase awareness about light pollution, estimates that irresponsible lighting costs Americans $2.2 billion a year nationwide because it wastes energy, according to IDA.

The observatory has reached out to different companies that are expanding operations in the Permian Basin region and in West Texas. Chevron spokeswoman Dolores Vick told The Daily Texan that they are reviewing to find out if there are ways to safely reduce light pollution in that area.

Meanwhile, the city of Austin has set aside funds to replace bulbs with smart street lights to decrease light pollution. Austin Energy expects that all city street lights will be automated with LED bulbs by 2015. Those types of lights focus the light downward in an effort to save energy and decrease light pollution.

“We are one of the few cities in the country that are both automating their street lights and making them dark sky compliant,” Austin Energy spokesman Carlos Cordova told The Daily Texan.

Neighboring community Dripping Springs recently was recognized as a Dark Sky Community by IDA for their efforts to keep the night sky clean for stargazers.

The McDonald Observatory, founded in the 1930s, is one of the leading centers for astronomical research, education and outreach, according to The Daily Texan.

It has led several important milestones since its inception. In 1944, Gerard Kuiper, using an 82-inch telescope discovered the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon, Titan. In 1969, a month after the first moon landing, Neil Arsmtrong left a reflector on the surface of the moon, which was used by the observatory to bounce off a laser beam to accurately measuere the distance from Earth to the Moon. And, in 2005, the most powerful supernova found to date, Supernova 2005 ap, was found using the ROTSE IIIb telescope at the McDonald Observatory.