Proposed World Heritage Starlight Reserve in NZ

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

It's awesome to see this propsed World Heritage status for the Mackenzie Country night sky is progressing.

Fingers crossed that it receives the final approval and becomes official.

Anyone who has visited the Mackenzie Country and looked up at the night sky on a clear night will know what an awesome wonder it is.

I'll post a few news stories — some of them historic — about this proposed World Heritage Starlight Reserve.

I've illustrated them with some of Fraser Gunn's amazing photographs of the night sky as viewed from the Mackenzie Country.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Sky park will give Tekapo a starring role

World Heritage Starlight Reserve proposed for Mackenzie Country

The Timaru Herald | 12:23AM - Thursday, 20 November 2008







SHINING LIGHTS: The night sky at Tekapo is likely to become a World Heritage site. — FRASER GUNN.

THE skies above the Mackenzie Country could be the home of the world's first starlight reserve within months.

Unesco is likely announce the World Heritage site and Earth's first starlight reserve to coincide with the International Year of Astronomy (2009).

Tekapo's Graeme Murray is part of a driving force behind the sky reserve, helping initiate the proposal during his term as chairman of the Mackenzie Tourism and Development Board.

He said one of the important cornerstones of the Lake Tekapo community's long-term vision was to protect the area's unique dark sky.

"We want to better protect one of the Mackenzie's most valuable assets, its dark, starry sky. It has never been done anywhere in the world so we hope we'll be successful."

Former MP Margaret Austin and New Zealand Unesco representative is leading the initiative and she will attend the important Unesco meeting in Paris in January where further consideration will be given to the draft document that has been prepared.

Unesco and its world heritage committee seem keen to make the sky above Lake Tekapo and Aoraki-Mount Cook the pilot study for the world's first heritage Starlight Reserve, a type of park in the sky.

Through the initiatives of the Mackenzie District Council most of the required regulatory ordinances that might be required for such a status are already in place.

All Tekapo streets lights are sodium and shielded from above to reduce the glow and all household lights must face down — not up.

The reserve would give recognition and protection for the region's dark unpolluted skies.

New Zealand has just three of the 851 listed world heritage sites: Te Wahipounamu, Tongariro and the sub-Antarctic islands, and Mr Murray wants to add a fourth one — the Mackenzie Country's Dark Sky.

"The Mount John observatory science projects above the Tekapo township are also a special and valuable eco-tourist attraction but as the interest is great we sometimes have to limit the number of visitors particularly at night.

"The Mackenzie District Council is already leading New Zealand and many parts of the world with special ordinances and by-laws in place controlling the use of lighting and restricting light pollution in the area."

www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/726286

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Starlight star bright

By JEFF TOLLAN - The Timaru Herald | 10:32AM - Monday, 23 February 2009



HEAVENLY COMET: Comet McNaught pays a spectacular visit in 2007 and was caught from Godley Peaks Road, looking back
south over Mount John and Tekapo Village. — FRASER GUNN.

AS THE sun begins to sink below the horizon, ending another day in the Mackenzie Basin, darkness creeps over the landscape.

Amidst the twilight, a velvet black begins to stain the sky, advancing towards the horizon as the dying sunlight finally slips behind the Southern Alps.

It is broken only by a piercing starlight the silken sky filled with countless vivid specks, like a colander held to the light.

It is a transfixing sight; one which many people in the world have lost.

But while urban sprawl and development have choked the night sky from view in some parts of the world, residents of Tekapo and its surrounding areas are fighting to keep their skies crystal clear.

With the backing of the region and the country, a group of three people are fighting to have the area's stunning night skies recognised and preserved.

The vision is to establish a World Heritage Starlight Reserve in the Lake Tekapo and Aoraki/Mount Cook area, home of the Mount John Observatory.

It would be the world's first such reserve and the drive to have it established coincides with the International Year of Astronomy this year.

Just this week, former MP Margaret Austin returned to New Zealand from Paris where she put New Zealand's case to have the area declared a reserve to a United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation conference.

A working party is now examining her proposal, and those of eight other countries also applying for starlight reserves.

She is one of the trio who have been working on the Tekapo bid. Professor John Hearnshaw, from the University of Canterbury, and local man Graeme Murray are her counterparts. They worked non-stop in readiness for the Paris conference and now have to prepare a preliminary report for the working group which is meeting next month.

Another report, a case study about the ins and outs of Tekapo and its astronomical background, also has to be prepared, to present to Unesco in a little more than a year's time.

Mrs Austin said more people will be needed to help from this point on.

"We've got to mobilise people now to help with the case study."

The interest the project has gained already has been phenomenal, she said. "I can't believe the degree of interest that there has been in the whole proposal. While I was in Paris I had contact with television, radio stations and endless numbers of reporters. It was astonishing."

For Mr Murray, a director of Earth and Sky which operates at the Mount John Observatory, the situation has been the same.

Even though the whole process is still being worked on, it has still attracted attention around the world, he added.

"We've even had CNN here for two days planning a documentary.

In the interim it's the waiting that is the hard part. But while Mrs Austin finds the length of time the whole process takes disappointing, she said it is understandable that Unesco was following its own process, dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's along the way.

A huge boost to the cause has been the Mackenzie District Council's motivation in protecting the sky above the observatory. Since 1981 the council has had strict lighting bylaws so Mount John's telescopes could look out into the galaxy.

All household lights must beam down, floodlights are a no-no and all outdoor lighting must be switched off between 11pm and sunrise.Sodium lights are also a bonus, and all street lights are designed to shine light down onto the street.

The other areas also applying for starlight reserves are mostly in isolated areas, away from residential areas. Tekapo's initiatives have certainly been a talking point, Mrs Austin said.

"One speaker said that if there was just one site in the world where people could see the stars they would not stop travelling to see them. Half the people of the world at present do not see the stars."

Mrs Austin said while she knew a lot of people came to the Mackenzie region, it was still a bit of a shock to learn that around 1.4 million tourists visited annually.

Tourism New Zealand reports that three-quarters of Japanese guests list star-gazing as the main reason they wanted to visit the country.

Destination Mount Cook Mackenzie general manager Philip Brownie said the starlight reserve will be another good tourist attraction for the region.

"It's going to be great [if the reserve is granted], but it's important to remember that there are other tourism operations and a starlight reserve will continue to add to those."

All up, he said, there are about 350 tourist-related businesses in the area.

Should the area end up being classified as a starlight reserve, it would bring in even more people, Mr Murray said.







MACKENZIE NIGHT SKY: Eta Carinae above Tekapo in the proposed World Heritage Starlight Reserve. — FRASER GUNN.

One of Tekapo's best known night sky photographers, Fraser Gunn, wouldn't be surprised if it did.

He finds the Solar System, and Tekapo's view of it, fascinating and said it isn't until people get to the Mackenzie they realise just what can be seen.

He's thankful for the fact such an interest has been taken in protecting the night sky.

There's passion in his voice when he talks about his night-time ventures, walking from here to there to find the perfect shot.

There's a certain challenge to it, he said. It takes time, patience.

"Sixty per cent of the time the weather's nice to go out and get photos.

"I like a nice dark sky background and need it when there's next-to-no moon. It also needs to coincide with my days off," he said.

It makes for an extremely long day if you spend all night taking photos and then have to go to work, he said.

So, about two days a month, he gets his kit and begins taking photos from sunset to sunrise, with the occasional nap. In one night he can end up with anywhere from 500 to 1000 shots.

It's a captivating hobby and never boring, he said.

Mr Gunn has been in Tekapo for just on 10 years. Four years ago he began to get a taste for astrophotography a specialist area of photography where stars are tracked over the sky with a long exposure.

It allows the faintest stars in the sky to be seen and, because the camera is moving with them, there is no blurring. Tekapo's sky is perfect for it.

No-one knows that better than those who work at the iconic Mount John Observatory, easily seen from the township thanks to its recognisable white dome.

The observatory's resident superintendent, Alan Gilmore, said developers, residents and the council have all made a huge effort to ensure that the six telescopes on site get a crystal clear view of the heavens.

He said while the sky is already heavily protected from the regulations that have been put in place, a starlight reserve would, in a way, make an international feature of them.

The observatory, opened in 1965, is now operated as a field station of the University of Canterbury's Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Along with UC, New Zealand's Massey, Victoria and Auckland universities and Japan's Nagoya University all have a stake in the site, which is fast becoming known around the world.

www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/features/1393091

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Tekapo night sky among world's best

By FLEUR COGLE - The Timaru Herald | 5:00AM - Wednesday, 23 September 2009





OUR SOLAR SYSTEM: The Milky Way as viewed from the Mackenzie Country near Tekapo. — FRASER GUNN.

Tekapo has been named the fourth best place in the world to go stargazing by a United States travel website on top of receiving a powerful endorsement of its bid to become the world's first starlight reserve.

VirtualTourist.com, which has more than one million online members, listed Tekapo in its top places to count the stars.

Yosemite National Park claimed the No1 spot, beating out Scotland's Orkney Islands and the Gobi Desert.

Iceland's Lake Myvatn rounded out the top five.

The ranking is another boost for Tekapo's push for World Heritage status for its night skies.

Last month, Tekapo received its most important support so far, when it was declared the frontrunner for the world's first starlight reserve world heritage site at an International Astronomers' Union conference in Rio de Janeiro.

Canterbury University Professor John Hearnshaw, from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, attended the conference and told The Timaru Herald the IAU's support was great news.

A working party at the conference indicated Tekapo was the prime contender for the first starlight reserve heritage site.

However, there were still some hurdles to overcome before the dream could become a reality, Professor Hearnshaw said.



OUR SOLAR SYSTEM: The Milky Way as viewed from Mount John in the Mackenzie Country. — FRASER GUNN.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is still to decide if it will confer status on starlight reserves and a decision will not be made before next June.

If Unesco proceeded, it would be 2011 before bids were considered, Professor Hearnshaw said.

Tekapo Earth and Sky Observatory Tours director Graeme Murray said it had been a big year for astronomy in the Mackenzie District, with record numbers of tourists visiting Mount John Observatory.

"I think it's certainly the starlight reserve that's brought a lot of attention to it. I also put it down to [the fact that] people are getting a wee bit more conscious about the night sky."

www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/2892337/Tekapo-night-sky-among-worlds-best

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

A 100% PURE KIWI in a DARK SKY

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY captures a KIWI in the MILKY WAY

Mount John Earth & Sky Observatory | Thursday, 24 September 2009





A Kiwi visible in the centre of the Milky Way, with the second image showing
the Kiwi outlined. — FRASER GUNN/Mount John Earth & Sky Observatory.

With With the recent addition of astrophotography as part of Earth & Sky's Stargazing Tours, experienced photographer Fraser Gunn has captured incredible images of a kiwi in the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.

When viewing this region with the naked eye it is difficult to locate the bird, whereas the images produced with Fraser’s camera allow greater light and colour into the image giving the kiwi more definition as seen in the accompanying photographs (note the kiwi outlined in the second image).

This is such a great discovery for Lake Tekapo, which is bidding to become one of the first World Heritage Starlight Reserves in the world. How appropriate that a kiwi stands in amongst the stars that Lake Tekapo is striving to protect and that it has been discovered from Mount John.

Astrophotography has been offered as an extra activity with the stargazing tours for six weeks and the response has been outstanding. For customers who have an SLR-type camera it means that with hands-on instruction they can obtain their own starlight pictures, including the recently discovered kiwi.

Earth & Sky, which has been operating educational Stargazing Tours for the past five years, is noticing a considerable increase in activity and awareness of the public, both locally and internationally. Visitors keen to discover the wonders of the southern night sky are finding Mount John an ideal location, regarded world-wide as one of the most beautiful, easily accessible observatories in the world.

www.earthandsky.co.nz/press_release/press_release.html

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Star park one step from world recognition

The Timaru Herald | 5:00AM - Friday, 13 November 2009



NIGHT SKY: Horsehead in the skies above the Mackenzie Country in the proposed World Heritage Starlight Reserve. — FRASER GUNN.

New Zealand has been shortlisted as one of five world heritage night sky reserve sites to be considered at the Unesco world heritage meeting in Brazil next year.

The Tekapo-Aoraki/Mount Cook night sky bid was unanimously supported by a Unesco meeting in Spain this week.

It will join sites in Austria, Spain, Chile and Hawaii to be considered at next year's Unesco World Heritage Committee in Brazil. Should the bids be accepted, they will be classified as World Heritage Reserves.

Starlight Reserve Committee member Graeme Murray said the latest announcement was a "huge step". "We have passed a major obstacle."

He said Tekapo's first proposal to Unesco in 2007 was the inspiration for other international observatories to follow suit.

"It's a pretty radical concept, and Tekapo has been leading the way.

"I think it has taken a lot to convince some of the old guard of Unesco that heritage can also be what's up in the sky as well as on the ground."





NIGHT SKY: Horsehead and Orion in the skies above the Mackenzie Country in the proposed World Heritage Starlight Reserve. — FRASER GUNN.

Committee chairwoman Margaret Austin presented New Zealand's bid to Unesco in Santa Cruz this week.

"I am quite amazed at what we have achieved so far," she said.

"People are starting to realise the importance of the night sky and its heritage values, there are places in the northern hemisphere where the night pollution is such that people cannot see the stars any more.

The Mount John Observatory, on the other hand, has absolutely pristine clear visions, thanks partly to the light ordinance levels set by the Mackenzie District Council.

"The potential for astro-tourism is huge."

Mount John is home to six telescopes including the country's biggest telescope, which measures 1.8 metres across, and can observe 50 million stars on a clear night. Canterbury University's physics and astronomy department uses the observatory as a research facility.

Mr Murray said the committee would start on a final proposal for the Unesco committee.

"The result has immense implications for the Mackenzie Basin, not just for tourism, but also for future education and research ... because everything one looks at up there is literally going back in time."

www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/3058530/Star-park-one-step-from-world-recognition

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Professor backs Mount John as reserve

By MATHEW LITTLEWOOD - The Timaru Herald | 5:00AM - Saturday, 14 November 2009



AWESOME SKY: Orion Nebula in the skies above the Mackenzie Country in the proposed World Heritage Starlight Reserve. — FRASER GUNN.

A world-leading astronomer supports Tekapo's bid for a World Heritage Reserve.

Professor Robert Kirschner, from Harvard University, has been in the country over the last week as part of the Royal Society of New Zealand's lecture tour and visited the Mount John Observatory in Tekapo yesterday.

Professor Kirschner said he was delighted with this week's announcement that Tekapo/Aoraki-Mount Cook had been shortlisted as one of five world heritage night sky reserve sites to be considered at next year's Unesco world heritage meeting.



AWESOME SKY: Running Chicken in the skies above the Mackenzie Country in the proposed World Heritage Starlight Reserve. — FRASER GUNN.

"I think it's a great way to get people thinking about what's out in the universe," he said.

"New Zealand may take it for granted that they've got this whole resource right above them. We can see through time. Astronomy is a strange subject in that you do a lot of your research by looking out in the skies and making equations rather than just working with raw materials on a laboratory desk."

"Even by looking into something simple as a telescope, you can see light that was emitted long ago."



AWESOME SKY: Sculptor Galaxy in the skies above the Mackenzie Country in the proposed World Heritage Starlight Reserve. — FRASER GUNN.

Professor Kirschner is the author of The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Cosmos. His work with the "High-Z Supernova Team" on the acceleration of the Universe was dubbed the Science Breakthrough of the Year for 1998 by Science Magazine.

"It's quite difficult to explain to people that our universe is expanding at rates faster than we ever imagined 20 years ago."

"It goes against most people's understanding of gravity. When you throw something up in the air, you think it would have to come down. But it appears the universe is dominated by a mysterious dark energy that drives cosmic acceleration."



AWESOME SKY: Seven Sisters in the skies above the Mackenzie Country in the proposed World Heritage Starlight Reserve. — FRASER GUNN.

Professor Kirschner said it had been only in the last 20 years that astronomers are coming to terms with the phenomenon.

"It actually stretches back to 1917, when Albert Einstein proposed a ‘cosmological constant’. He ditched that equation when it was discovered the universe was expanding, and not static."

"It was called his great blunder, and yet we're able to use that cosmological constant now to describe how dark energy dominates the universe."

www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/3062430/Prof-backs-Mt-John-as-reserve