Starry starry night night

The idea of starry starry night night is to give the people of Bristol an occasion when they can enjoy the splendours of the universe, and gaze upon the wonderous Milky Way, without the interference of excessive light pollution.

On starry starry night night, between midnight and 1am, all the lights in public buildings will be switched off and the streetlights extinguished. A publicity campaign prior to the event will have encouraged businesses and residents to minimise lighting for the night, and the roads through the centre of the city closed down to allow bars, restaurants and cafes to extend seating out into the streets.

Then will the people of Bristol behold the majesty of the heavens.

There are obvious practicalities that need to be addressed for Starry starry night night to work: The event is held on a movable date that is only confirmed when the weather forecast shows a clear, cloudless night coinciding with a Full or Gibbous (nearly full) moon.

On a clear, moonlit night, streetlighting and security lighting are unnecessary. On a moonlit night, the moon on its own does a more effective job of lighting up the shadows of the city than artificial lighting does on a cloudy night. (If you doubt this, you clearly haven't been out walking on a moonlit night!) So issues such as security and safety are not a blocker to this idea.

Why the contribution is important

Self evident

by user437320 on November 21, 2013 at 12:55PM

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