Skies the limit in world record attempt

THE Ballarat Municipal Observatory has contributed to a Guinness World Record attempt for the most people taking an online environmental sustainability lesson in twenty-four hours.

Held over Australia’s longest, darkest night, Sunday, 21 June, any person over 10 years could get involved in the citizens science exercise by heading outside to observe the Southern Cross’ brightness.

Judith Bailey, the observatory’s manager, and secretary of International Dark-Sky Association Victoria said participants logged their location on a map and the clarity of the sky above them.

“After 7.30pm, they measured how many stars they could see in the Southern Cross, and ticked whether it was cloudy, three quarters cloudy, half cloudy, a quarter cloudy or clear,” she said.

“It helps children and adults to become aware of how dark the night sky is at their place, and they can actually go online and look at the data from all over the world.”

Working towards achieving a Ballarat Dark-Sky Community, this project is a way residents can understand and appreciate why astronomers advocate for less light spill from homes, businesses and street lamps.

“When they go out into their backyard or outside their front door, they will see possible light pollution, which is what prevents them from seeing the stars that they won’t be able to count,” Ms Bailey said.

“If people are right out in the bush, they see more stars. If we can reduce city light spill by having full cut-off shades on lamps and lower temperature lights, then we can all see a little more of the stars.”

Visit worldrecordlight.thinkific.com for more information.