Stars and STEM Stories
GLOBE at Night Participation Expands Around the World
From 8-21 March, students, teachers, and families from more than 60 countries participated inGLOBE at Night, a global campaign to observe and record the magnitude of visible stars as a means of measuring light pollution around the world. Thanks to all who contributed to the success of this annual event by creating community events and to all our GLOBE students who reported GLOBE data. During the March 2007 event, 8,491 observations were reported, almost double the number of observations sent to us in 2006!
Several members of the GLOBE community have written to tell us how they participated in GLOBE at night and we would like to share their stories with you.
Montevideo, Uruguay
At the Escuela Primaria "República de la India" in Montevideo, fifty students and their families investigated the night sky. Professor Gabriel Otero, President of Uruguay's Amateur Astronomy Association (AAA) gave an informative talk about stars and constellations to the group. For the complete story, with photos, please see Uruguay Investigates GLOBE at Night.
Miami, Florida U.S.A.
On 16 March 2007, the Miami Museum of Science Planetariumhosted a live star show, free to the public, illustrating the effects of light pollution on the night sky. The planetarium showed two projections of the night sky: one with light pollution and one without. The astonishing demonstration starkly demonstrated how light pollution obliterates our ability to see the stars. The presentation also discussed the detrimental effects of light pollution on nature. In Florida, after hatching on the beach, baby turtles must find their way to the water, navigating their direction by using the natural glow from the moon. However, light pollution obscures their navigation and causes many turtles to wander in the wrong direction. Sea turtles are not the only animals at risk from light pollution; many other animals depend on the moon's light for survival, too. The Planetarium event gave Miami citizens an insight into the relationship between technology, pollution and the environment and urged them to consider how we humans contribute to light pollution.
The GLOBE Program Office would like to thank the Miami Science Museum, under the direction of Dr. John DeLaughter, for hosting this event as a direct link to GLOBE at Night.
Virtual World
Marcy Seavey, a U.S. Partner Coordinator for GLOBE at the Iowa Academy of Science, created an innovative way for people to participate in GLOBE at Night. From 8-21 March, students, families, and educators were invited to participate in observing the relationship between science, technology and society by observing and recording the magnitude of stars and constellations in the night sky. The data gave scientists the ability to assess the quality of the night sky and the variance of light pollution in different locations around the world. Marcy Seavey, a member of a virtual community called There, created and facilitated a forum for members of There Academy of Science to communicate with other members from around the world about GLOBE at Night. Members of this virtual community hosted GLOBE at Night parties where participants could collectively gather data, enter it into the There Web site, and then engage in dialogue about light pollution with other participating members. The parties and Internet forum were very successful in compiling data. Congratulations to Marcy Seavey for all her efforts and contributions to the GLOBE program and GLOBE at Night!
We look forward your participation in GLOBE at Night next year.
09 August 2007