I invite readers to download this pdf file and send it to any publisher or individual. It may be published anywhere but may not be exclusive. If it is published elsewhere, I request that I am informed of this. (Please email me: sjwainwright at btinternet dot com ) The aim of this short story is to get people who are not interested in astronomy or in the preservation of dark skies, to think about the way that they and others use light.
Read the story here
The Dark.
By Steve Wainwright
The observatory was ignored by everyone in the neighbourhood except for the occasional vandal. Thank goodness the dome and door were made of steel and had frustrated the attempts of miscreants on more than one occasion.
The observatory was located in a field behind low hedges
that partly hid its green dome and white, circular walls from view. A long drive
wound its way from a gate, around the field to the end where the observatory
nestled on its flat, concrete plinth. There was housing and the local town
towards the east, a football field adjacent to the north and virtually nothing
to the west and south. No high trees or buildings spoiled the view of the
sky.
The town emitted a dome of yellow light coloured by poorly shaded
low pressure sodium street lights which lit the sky to the east. On football
nights, the floodlights from the football ground illuminated the observatory
dome brightly and cast a long, hard, egg-shaped shadow of the dome across the
grass and drive. Domestic security lights from nearby houses came on and off at
the whim of passing cats casting horizontal beams that illuminated whatever was
in their path and unfortunately this included the observatory.
The astronomers had tried everything they could think of to make
the local public aware of the value of a dark sky. The sad fact is that very few
people have an interest in that part of the environment and have never really
looked at the night sky, Most have never even thought of the night sky as being
part of our environment. Star parties had been held at the observatory and other
locations where members of the public were invited to come along and look
through telescopes for themselves, often for the first time, to see craters on
the Moon, the rings of Saturn and the belts and great red spot on Jupiter. They
were amazed to see that Venus and Mercury go through phases just like the Moon
and can sometimes be seen as small, bright crescents through the astronomers'
telescopes. Nebulae such as the Ring and Dumbbell nebulae, the remnants of dead
stars or the magnificent Orion and Omega Nebulae, regions of star birth never
failed to draw gasps of wonder. Globular clusters and open galactic clusters
like scatterings of jewels across the night sky never failed to invoke
exclamations of delight. Hundreds of people visited these star parties each year
but they only yielded the occasional new member for the astronomical society.
For the rest of the visitors, it seems that it was just a night's entertainment
to be quickly forgotten, and making no real impact on their lives or
attitudes.
The astronomers had produced exhibitions on light pollution in
which they showed that light that shines anywhere but on the area that requires
illumination is wasted light. That any light fitment that allows light to
spill out to the sides or even upwards is wasting every photon that does not hit
a surface that requires illumination. The astronomers were surprised by the
number of people who simply did not understand the nature of illumination. Many
people actually believed that for a light to be effective at illumination, it
had to shine into your eyes. They simply did not understand that you see things
by the light that reflects off them and into your eyes. Moreover, they did not
understand the way that the eye works and that when bright light shines into it,
the iris closes down to let less light into the eye. The consequences are of
course, that the glare of lights such as security lights causes you to see less
in the dark rather than more if they shine into your eyes. Only lights that
shine onto the surfaces that you want to see and not into your eyes will be
effective security or general illumination lights. Photons of light travel from
the lamp to the object, reflect off the object into your eyes and you see the
object. It is so simple, why could so many people not understand it? The
astronomers lamented the fact that so many people knew so little about light or
vision.
The astronomers tried to appeal to people's supposed interest in
nature and the environment and made exhibitions and wrote articles pointing out
that wasted light, light-pollution, interferes with the ecology of both diurnal
and nocturnal animals, damaging their breeding and feeding environments and
putting additional ecological stress on already threatened species. They even
pointed out the proven links between light pollution and breast cancer, showing
that unnatural lighting regimes interfere with human as well as animal
physiology.
The astronomers decided that if people really didn't care about the
environment, maybe they would care about the expense of wasted light. They
calculated that if all of the lights were directed correctly so that they
illuminated the ground and not the sky, fewer lights would be needed and lower
wattage lights would be needed to achieve even better illumination than was
being currently achieved. They calculated that if the correct lights were used,
and were directed correctly, it would be possible to illuminate three cities for
the current cost of illuminating two. Wasted light means wasted money. If
authorities spent less money on lighting, they would have more to spend on other
projects. Indeed, some authorities had started to implement a reduced lighting
policy involving turning off some lights in non-residential areas, dimming other
lights and replacing older, high wattage lights with more modern, full cut off,
lower wattage lights. This would allow significant savings to the cost of civic
illumination.
If environmentally conscious people were not convinced by the facts
on the affects of lighting on the ecology, maybe they might be convinced by
other environmental issues. The astronomers pointed out that the generation of
power that is wasted as light pollution involves the commensurate production of
environmental pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nuclear
waste. Less light pollution means less chemical environmental pollution.
Moreover, they pointed out that the wasting of light effectively means the
wasting of non-renewable resources such as coal, gas, oil and nuclear fuels.
Oddly, none of these arguments seemed to make any impact on the people that read
or heard them. Individuals continued to direct their vastly over powered
security lights at right angles to their buildings producing glare behind which
criminals could work unobserved. Sports clubs left their spotlights shining
outside the perimeters of their sports fields into the eyes of astronomers and
motorists alike.
The sad fact was, the astronomers concluded, that apathy would
continue to allow light pollution, energy and natural resource wastage. People
continued to convince themselves that if they were paying for the wasted light
and all that entails, that it was somehow OK.
Meanwhile the astronomers were frequently misrepresented by
mischievous reporters wanting to make a headline. Headlines such as 'Star gazers
want to plunge the world into darkness' undid any progress that the astronomers
might have made. The astronomers did not want the lights turning off, although
reduced lighting would reduce the light pollution over the city and urban areas.
The astronomers wanted the security of adequate illumination as much as anyone
else. Their main request was for individuals and organisations to direct
their security and other lights onto the areas that required illumination and
no-where else.
There is an offence called 'light nuisance' which is effectively
what all people and organisations that don't direct their lights correctly are
committing. It has been tested in court and successful prosecutions have been
brought. The astronomers had, of course considered this, but did not wish to
resort to the law where common sense, good economics and goodwill should prevail
with reasonable people. After all, we are all members of the same community
mumbled an astronomer over his cup of hot tea.
'Will it work?' Asked Jack, one of the members of the astronomical
society committee. It is expensive and new. I don't know anyone who has
installed such a system.
'The theory is sound' said Marie, the society
chair-person. 'I can think of no reason why it wouldn't work. It is called 'The
Cloak' by the way. There is a local company who have said that they will install
it for us at a reasonable price as long as they can do it in their own time and
are paid in cash'.
'How does it work'? Asked Joan, perching her reading
glasses on the end of her nose as though this act which made her look like a
librarian, would help her to understand.
Marie explained that it was a
new destructive interference system. Beams of light are produced exactly half a
wavelength out of phase with the incident, troublesome light, cancelling it out,
using a phenomenon that had been known for more than a century. The difficulty,
which seems to have been overcome is to get it to work across the entire visible
spectrum. 'The fitments on the top of our poles will effectively emit beams of
darkness. We will have them beam onto the periphery of our field where we
suffer from light pollution and light trespass and we will hopefully be troubled
no more'. Unfortunately this is a necessary expense that would have been better
spent on astronomical equipment and maintenance of the dome if only people cared
enough to do something for the environment, non-renewable resources and their
purses. However, they did not!
A groan went up from the crowd of football spectators as the
floodlights were turned on over the pitch. They had never seen anything like
this before and some found it frightening. Big swathes of darkness were cut
through the beams of some of their floodlights and parts of the pitch were in
complete darkness, a darkness so complete that it looked like a dark hole in the
pitch and some of the space above it. There were mutterings of 'the work of the
Devil' from the older spectators and churchgoers. The match had to be abandoned
and puzzled officials walked out onto the pitch to investigate. Some of the
spectators went to the club bar to exchange theories and grumbles and drown
their sorrows. The visiting team clambered aboard their bus bewildered and went
home.
Oblivious to all of this, the astronomers enjoyed the best night's
viewing of the night sky that they had ever had at this site. No unwelcome light
intruded into their observing area for the first time ever. 'Marie, this is the
best money we have ever spent' said Jack as he peered through the eyepiece of
his small telescope looking towards the south. 'I can see the Swan Nebula very
clearly and my eyes are the best dark-adapted I can remember them being'
'Careful Arthur, don't get too close to it' shouted Fred, an
official standing in the light at a safe distance from the phenomenon. 'Arthur's
gone!' shrieked Fred as he watched with horror as Arthur stepped into the Dark
and totally disappeared. 'Arthur, where are you? Are you all right?'. 'I'm OK'
shouted Arthur 'but I can't see a thing, everything is just inky blackness. I
wonder if this is what it is like to be blind'. He was suddenly terrified by the
thought that he might actually be blind and he turned running in panic in the
direction from which he thought he had come. He burst into the light and
straight into another official who was walking tentatively towards the Dark.
They collided and went down in a heap of bruises and curses.
'Father O'Reilly is here' a voice shouted and a robed priest
stepped gingerly onto the pitch carrying a crucifix and muttering about the
Forces of Darkness. He held the gold crucifix out in front of himself and
recited the twenty third psalm. 'Yea though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I shall fear no evil … Holy mother of God!'. The father's hands
and crucifix disappeared into the Dark, gone!'. He stepped back and there they
were again. He had no idea how to exorcise this manifestation of Darkness. He
turned and left the pitch and returned to his church to kneel and pray for
inspiration on how to deal with this.
The police constable was as dumbfounded as everyone else. His
police car sat reassuringly outside the football ground, blue light flashing and
radio talking loudly in the background. He stood a few feet from the Dark and
talked into his radio which was perched awkwardly on his uniform so that he had
to turn his head to speak into it.
Suddenly the Dark was gone! It had
been there, everyone had seen it, but now it was gone.
Marie threw the switch as they were about to close the observatory
dome. Light flooded once again across the field and cast the egg-shaped shadow
of the observatory onto the grass and drive. The astronomers climbed into their
cars and went home.
The following day Jack walked into the Rat and Carrot for his usual
pint of locally brewed bitter. Everyone was talking about the Dark that had
appeared on the football pitch the previous night. Jack, uncharacteristically,
left the pub without finishing his pint and drove straight to Marie's house. He
knocked on Marie's door and she answered it holding a copy of the local
newspaper. He started to explain why he was there when she turned the newspaper
around and showed him the front page headline: 'Mystery darkness causes match to
be abandoned'.
Marie's telephone rang. She picked it up and her face
became very serious. 'No comment' she said and returned the phone to its cradle.
'You can't install something as revolutionary as the 'Cloak' and keep it a
secret, particularly when it works so well' said Marie. 'It worked so well that
one of the previous night's observers must have been telling people about it.
That was a reporter from the Echo asking me to comment on our device spoiling
things for the footballers'. Jack's face broke into a broad smile. 'Give them
some of their own medicine I say' said Jack. 'Their floodlights have been
ruining our observing for years. Its time they got to know what it feels
like'.
The next day, Joan knocked anxiously on Marie's door. She saw the
curtains move in the front room window and a few moments later Marie, gaunt
faced, answered the door and let her in. 'God you look awful' said Joan. 'I was
worried about you. I have been trying to phone you but …'. She noticed the
telephone cord on the floor, it had been pulled out of the socket. 'Oh Joan, I
have had so many abusive phone calls, even a couple of threatening ones, and do
you know what? The police don't seem to be interested. The chap I spoke to said
that if we were going to spoil other people's enjoyment, we should expect to be
given a rough ride. I can call them or go to the station if things get worse. I
tried telling one or two callers that we were not aware that our Cloak was
affecting the football pitch and that it was not done deliberately, but their
anger was out of all proportion. Some of them were clearly drunk as well'. Marie
sat down in a chair and put her head in her hands. Joan told her that her son
had been bullied in school because of this.
The football club committee room was full for a change. An
extraordinary meeting had been called to discuss what was going to be done about
the Dark. 'Damned astronomers! Just who do they think they are? I read about it
in the Echo. They have put up some special sort of lamps that beam darkness
wherever they are pointed. It is supposed to make things better for their
observing or whatever they do in that confounded observatory. They simply don't
seem to care where their dark goes and it is going to ruin our football if every
time we turn our floodlights on, their Dark spills over onto the pitch. There
has to be a law against it. I say we set the club lawyers on them and force them
to stop it'. Then James the chairman spoke with his calm, educated voice and the
angry mutterings around the table subsided. 'I went to one of the astronomers
exhibitions a year or so ago. It was about light pollution and how it affects us
all, not just astronomers trying to look at the night sky. Arthur, you say that
there must be a law against what they are doing, beaming darkness onto our
pitch. Well, there isn't any such law. However, there is a law against what we
do when we shine our floodlights onto their observatory without a second
thought. The offence that we commit is called Light nuisance. It is unwanted,
nuisance light that is trespassing onto their observatory and spoiling their
astronomy'. 'We have to have our floodlights' said Arthur, 'they can't expect us
not to have them'. 'Of course not' said James 'but if they took us to court,
they would probably win their case against us. Unfortunately there is not yet an
offence called Dark nuisance. The sad fact is that we have ignored them and
their needs ever since we put up the floodlights around the field. Now, the
tables have turned and their Dark Cloak beams are spilling over onto our pitch.
I doubt that they gave us a second thought when they installed them any more
than we have ever considered them'. 'Well what are we going to do?' said Arthur.
James spoke patiently; 'We are going to call a meeting with the astronomers and
see if we can work something out to benefit both of us'.
'Come in Joan' said Marie, ushering her into the lounge where
her laptop computer was switched on and sitting on the coffee table. She brought
them both a cup of tea and sat on the chair by her laptop. 'I have had an email
from James Langford' said Marie. 'Who is he?' asked Joan with a puzzled look on
her face. 'He, my dear, is the chairman of the football club' beamed Marie. 'He
is inviting the committee of the astronomical society to a joint meeting with
the committee of the football club to discuss matters of mutual interest'. 'Hmm,
very interesting' said Joan cupping her hands around her teacup and smiling
through the rising steam. 'Very interesting!'