Education
Star light, star bright
Norman — For the last two weeks, Norman North High School astronomy students have been counting the stars of Orion — adding up to three or four on a clear night — and trekking around Norman, searching for a dark oasis shielded from the lights of University of Oklahoma’s stadium and downtown.
The students — steered by Norman North astronomy teacher Eileen Grzybowski — have collected readings throughout Norman as part of Globe Night 2010, a worldwide campaign to fight light pollution — known to affect safety, energy conservation, wildlife and the ability to view the stars.
The campaign ends Tuesday with a full moon.
Every night, since March 3 — weather permitting — the students have driven around Norman, pulling over to determine the darkness of the locale’s sky by counting the number of stars in Orion’s constellation and recording results from their Star Quality meters, which gives a qualitative reading of the sky’s darkness: The higher the number, the darker the sky.
The measurements are submitted online on the Globe at Night’s Web site. Organizers will release a map of light pollution levels worldwide in a few weeks.
During the last four Globe at Night campaigns, volunteers from more than 100 nations have contributed to 35,000 measurements, according to a news release.
“Just don’t try to count them during a game because the Stoops troops won’t allow you to see them,” said Haley Smith, Norman North junior and Astronomy II student, who named Washington Elementary and anywhere beyond 48th Street untainted by Norman’s light show.
“It’s pretty bad here,” she said.
In fact, Grzybowski said it’s so bad that a pilot has reported spotting Norman from the Arkansas border, while in the air.
And with half the world’s population living in cities, she said many have never seen an intensely dark sky — one that bathes gazers in starlight, not flashlight.
“It’s an appreciation of our heritage. It’s beautiful to see the night sky in all its glory,” said Grzybowski, adding that the stories of the constellations play like a rerun of a daytime soap opera. “We’re just asking people to consider what they’re doing.”
Grzybowski said the class is Norman’s outside agitators to the city for the issue of light pollution, encouraging City Council to preserve the night sky by passing lighting ordinances, such as turning off the OU stadium lights when not in use and placing shields over neighborhood street lights to direct the light down instead of up.
“If a street light points up, it kind of defeats the purpose of one anyway,” said Brooklyn Johnston, a junior at Norman North and one of Grzybowski’s Astronomy II students, who can see the haze of Norman’s light stream along the horizon from her country porch near Lake Thunderbird.
“We waste a lot of energy when it goes up into the sky.”
The group plans to make its presentation to City Council soon, but a specific date hasn’t been determined, said Ashley Stokes, a Norman North junior and Astronomy II student, as she demonstrated the group’s street lamp proposal, showing on a neighborhood model how when a shield is placed over a flashlight — symbolizing a street lamp — the light is directed downward, rather than up while still illuminating the roads.
Last year, the students created two light pollution maps of Norman from readings of 476 sites.
This year, however, Mother Nature’s temperament, which the students are at the mercy of, clocked the class’ readings at 30, as of Friday.
“The weather has not been good to us,” Grzybowski said.
Nanette Light 366-3541 nlight@normantranscript.com
- Education
-
-
Norman High School revives ‘dead’ language
Diagnosed as a dead language, dying off with the Roman’s years ago, Latin has been resurrected at Norman High School. And the school’s Latin teacher, Erin Davis, is leading the renaissance....
-
Some parents say ‘no’ to shots
Every year, the shot vile for some students runs dry, with parents opting to exempt their children from the recommended school shots. Sending a handful of students to school, however, with out-of-date shot records isn’t an easy “A.” For ...
-
Norman schools receive OPAT grant
Norman Public Schools recently received a fourth installment of a grant from Oklahoma Parents As Teachers, a voluntary parent education program, for the 2010-2011 school year, according to a news release....
-
Moore Norman Technology Center to host job fair
The Moore Norman Technology Center will host a job fair for At The Beach Tanning 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Franklin Road Campus in the North Dining Area. Applicants for the company’s full-time positions should have some sales ...
-
Norman school to hold orchestra demo
The Norman Public School string faculty will visit elementary schools to demonstrate orchestra instruments to fifth grade students Sept. 7 through Sept. 9....
-
Jefferson Elementary receives award for health programs
Jefferson Elementary School received the Rookie of the Year award at the recent Schools for Healthy Lifestyles Annual Awards Reception....
-
CASP to hold fundraiser at Andy Alligator’s
The Community After School Program will hold a fundraiser 5 to 9 p.m. Sept. 16 at Andy Alligator’s, 3300 Market Place in west Norman. Andy Alligator’s will donate 10 percent of all register receipts placed in the “fundraising bucket.” ...
-
Schools pledge to ‘pink out’ for cancer
For one week, Oklahoma will be awash in pink....
-
Playground won’t hurt parking
Madison and McKinley elementary schools still will park cars during the University of Oklahoma games, despite worries that their fenced-in playgrounds would fumble parking capabilities....
-
Norman high schools recognized for ACT scores
Norman high schools were ranked as one of the top 10 high schools in the state for results on the 2010 ACT, which were presented to the State Board of Education recently, according to a news release....
- More Education Headlines
-
Norman High School revives ‘dead’ language
