Presentation points regarding dark skies and exploring the night sky

I would like to present the Town of View Royal with an image of the magical January 20, 2019 Lunar Eclipse (the ‘Super Blood Wolf Moon’). This image was taken from my home here in View Royal and was selected by Skynews Magazine, a respected Canadian astronomy periodical, as their Photo of the Week for January 25, 2019 as well as one of their feature photos in the magazine's May/June 2019 issue. The description of the image noted that it was taken here in View Royal.

I am presenting this image for two reasons:

1. to promote the importance of dark skies, necessary for the creation of a photo such as this. Dark skies are critical, not only for astronomy, but also for wildlife, such as owls and bats. To this end, I would encourage the Town to ensure that: a. building design requirements avoid ‘light’ spillage in unnecessary directions, for example from downward lights high up on tall buildings or outside residential lights that shine in neighbours’ homes; and b. the street lighting systems throughout our town minimize upward glare, such that there is no wasted light shooting up in the sky.

   Initiatives may already be in place handling these suggestions, in which case they should be encouraged to continue. If not, I would recommend them to be considered. In any event, these suggestions could be taken into account whenever related civic decisions around choice of lighting options are being made.

2. to promote an interest in and provide opportunities for residents to explore the Night Sky. This may be accomplished in several ways, including: a. identifying places in View Royal to view the night sky, making sure they are safe and accessible; and b. including on the View Royal website links to information about the night sky, such as times of moonrise/moonset, moon phases, major constellations, movement of the planets and the orbit of the space station. Several websites exist that readily provide this information.