Windows to the universe: mapping the values of the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park

This thesis critically explores the cultural values of an International Dark Sky Park (IDSP) through an interdisciplinary research practice composed of site-based ethnography, qualitative research methods and creative enquiry. IDSPs are internationally designated areas where communities have pledged to conserve the natural darkness of the night sky through light pollution abatement programmes and educational outreach. This research focuses on one such place: the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park (GFDSP) in southwest Scotland, which was awarded dark sky status in 2009. Windows to the universe maps the lifeworlds of the GFDSP and its unique approach to dark skies. I discuss the impact of the designation on the region and its communities, and explore how the GFDSP and its values are variously imagined, experienced and enacted by its stakeholders as conservation model, novel tourist destination and place of residence. From recreational programming and planning to more informal gatherings of local residents and contingent encounters with other nocturnal inhabitants, the project presents a rich ethnography of the social lives and landscapes of the GFDSP. The research presented in this thesis was conducted during 2016–2020, a period leading up to and including the GFDSP's ten-year anniversary in 2019. It engages with stakeholders in a process of critical reflection that casts forward to possible new futures for IDSP practice. Through an interdisciplinary research practice composed of site-based ethnography, qualitative research methods and arts-based approaches such as long-exposure photography, audio recording and embodied, participative practice, Windows to the universe engages the GFDSP as an evolving assemblage, co-constituted by a diverse range of agents, practices, and experiences. A commitment to non-representational practice further guides this research. Through an aesthetic attention to the affective, situated and relational dimensions of dark sky stewardship, Windows to the universe demonstrates how the values and ‘stakes’ of IDSPs are neither fixed nor stable, but emergent and co-produced through practice and in-place. I affirm IDSPs as important sites of cultural and socioecological encounter with dark skies and dark landscapes, and further, that IDSPs could be more directly engaged as important sites of knowledge production about the night, darkness and light. My approach is realised in the form of the thesis through the deployment of a ‘distributed methodology’ that interrupts and interpolates the linear narrative of the thesis to make visible – and tangible – the generative relationships between researcher, site and practice, and to continually re-situate my discussions in the material, social and ecological context of my research site: the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park

Aurora, What Causes the Northern Lights?

This color brochure answers common questions about the aurora, including its cause and explanations of its colors, shapes, and location. It lists resources for further study. Educational levels: Informal education

Infrared Universe Poster

This educational poster contains images and information about what the universe looks like in the infrared. The back contains nine 8.5 in. x 11 in. panels that explain what infrared light is and why infrared astronomy is important. It also talks about light and the different colors and wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. It explains atmospheric transmission and how infrared observations help in the search for planets. The back panels also contain details on the Herschel experiment. In a very simple way it teaches the students how Herschel discovered infrared light. Educational levels: Middle school, High school

Project offers funding applicants education, public outreach help

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94764/1/eost12373.pd

Hope and Inquietudes in Nucleo-cosmochronology

Critical views are presented on some nucleo-cosmochronological questions. Progress has been made recently in the development of the 187Re-187Os cosmochronometry. From this, there is good hope for this clock to become of the highest quality for the nuclear dating of the Universe. The simultaneous observation of Th and U in ultra-metal-poor stars would also be a most interesting prospect. In contrast, a serious inquietude is expressed about the reliability of the chronometric attempts based on the classical 232Th-238U and 235U-238U pairs, as well as on the Th (without U) abundance determinations in ultra-metal poor stars.Comment: 9 pages, no figures; ASP Conference Series: "Astrophysical Ages and Time Scales