New Zealand's Tekapo Possibly Home to First "Starlight Reserve"

by Geneva B | February 10, 2009 at 12:45 pm

1232 views | 17 Recommendations | 8 comments

The small town of Tekapo, New Zealand is lighting up the nighttime sky - naturally. The community of just over 800 people is already attracting astro tourists seeking to revel in what many hope will become the world's first starlight reserve. The town is waiting on UNESCO's official approval.

"It's awesome, I mean it's like beyond words," says Simon Venvoort, 46, a management consultant from Amsterdam. "You see so much you aren't aware of."
"You know that two generations now are growing up not being aware that all this is out there because ... half of the world is light-polluted."

It's estimated that about one fifth of the world's population and more than two-thirds in the U.S. cannot see the Milky Way from their homes.

The "starlight reserve" idea germinated in UNESCO in 2005. Tekapo, in the McKenzie Basin of South Island, was already on its own track, seeking what locals were calling their "park in the sky." So Tekapo was suggested as a pilot site because of its haze-free sky and lighting controls already in place.

A UNESCO working party agreed last month to study what Graeme Murray, chairman of the Mackenzie Tourism and Development Board, calls "a heritage park in the sky."

"We helped make UNESCO world heritage look upward as well as around them in protecting the world's heritage," he says.

The U.N. body has extended world heritage status to 878 historic, cultural, ecological and natural sites around the planet, but none includes the sky.

The idea faces significant challenges — UNESCO's conventions do not mention the space above and around heritage sites, and there's still the question of how to define a piece of open sky for conservation purposes.

Hopefully Tekapo continues to keep wishing on stars; the future looks very bright indeed.

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leeyu_flickr

at 18:29 on February 10th, 2009

This photo is taken in Tekapo, a beautiful place in NewZealand.

I've been there for one night. We've heard that Tekapo is the best point to see the stars, but it is a pity we did not try to go for the telescope.

I love the air and the sky in NZ, hope you all like this photo, too.

leeyu_flickr has contributed a photo to this story.

Amy Judd

at 13:15 on February 10th, 2009

This is so much fun - maybe we can implement it in Vancouver?

Karenke4

at 13:46 on February 10th, 2009

I lived in an isolated area of NZ for a while where the generator was shut off every night at 11. I saw more stars than I've ever seen in my life. It is such a beautiful and peaceful feeling to have darkness and silence like that. You'd be surprised how much you can see with just moonlight. And then there were the glow worms to help matters...

Bravo Tekapo! I hope they can keep it up.

magalielabbe

at 17:35 on February 10th, 2009

This is incredible! What a clever idea.

Francis Chin (not verified)

at 10:13 on February 11th, 2009

Once and once only in my entire life I saw the Milky Way. I was in a tour coach with my teenage son, on the Great Ocean Road somewhere near Apollo Bay south of Melbourne. We passed under a patch of haze-free, cloudless sky, and were stunned to see that it was completely covered with stars. And hanging low above us was a silver belt, stretching from horizon to horizon. My son asked in a worried voice if this belt would drop on us -- it seemed so thick and heavy!

I was in Queenstown in February 2008 but I didn't see any starry night sky. Can anyone tell me which month is best to visit Tekapo to see a totally cloudless, star-packed sky? I lived in Singapore, a polluted, hazy place. My email: fchin123@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Aude Lising (not verified)

at 20:38 on February 11th, 2009

I think this is such a great idea. I am 25 years old and up until recently, I had never EVER seen what the sky truly looks like. I've lived in cities my whole life, on 2 different continents, so I can tell what a shock it was when I shot my first nighttime sky photograph and discovered millions and millions of stars above Los Angeles!

I remember watching an episode of Who's the Boss and someone or other was saying goodbye to someone on the porch and the sky was just unbelievable: stars everywhere. In my 10 yr old mind, I thought "NO WAY! That's now how the sky looks, this can't be real!" I think it'd be interesting if big cities like Los Angeles, which you can see as far back as Ventura (about 60miles) turned off all their lights for one night. Imagine! It would be incredible!

MBOY

at 20:11 on February 14th, 2009

www.flickr.com/photos/funisback

MBOY has contributed a photo to this story.

Tech N Tools

at 18:10 on March 1st, 2009

Since my teenage star gazing years have I been aware of light pollution's effect on visible starlight. It only gotten worst 15 years later. Recently on the November 08' issue of National Geographic touched on the subject of light pollution. It was revealed that light pollution not only spoil our starry nights but also disrupts the biological cycles of wildlife which relies on the rhythm of day and night to guide them.