Texas Monthly (5 December 2017)

How Big Bend Ranch State Park Earned Its Dark Sky Designation

“The stars at night are big and bright, but if our cities overwhelm that light, we won’t see that,” says John Barentine, a program manager at the International Dark-Sky Association, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving night skies by combating light pollution. Barentine, who lived in Austin for seven years before moving to Arizona to work with the IDA, says he reminds Texans about the lyrics of “Deep in the Heart of Texas” to point out how integral the night sky is to the state’s folklore and culture. Unfortunately, most of us don’t see those bright stars: for 99 percent of residents in the U.S. and Europe, the night sky is obfuscated by light pollution.

Read more: https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/big-bend-ranch-state-park-designated-dark-sky-park/www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/big-bend-ranch-state-park-designated-dark-sky-park/