Observe the Milky Way in the middle of an urban environment? This is the objective of the starry sky oasis, a project carried at arm’s length by two passionate scientists from the Cégep de Sherbrooke. And when the City and all its partners join in, sky is the limit !
“The fear of the night is still well established in humans. Few people walk in the dark in cities, even less in a natural world, ”says Martin Aubé, a physicist whose expertise in light pollution shines internationally. Result ? Always more lighting which alters the nocturnal landscape, he continues. “Places where night is natural are an exception on the planet. “
It is somewhat to become this exception that this teacher at the Cégep de Sherbrooke and his sidekick Johanne Roby, a chemistry teacher at the same college, began to dream of their starry sky oasis project. “We wondered if we could restore the sky in Sherbrooke and offer citizens a reserve of all-black skies, accessible on foot or by bike,” says Martin Aubé. “Of course it will never be a purely natural sky like you can see in remote places, but our studies say it would be enough to see the Milky Way. “
This interdisciplinary research project, which could lead to a world first, began in 2019, following a request to create the Mont-Bellevue nature reserve, which is still ongoing. This large park adjoining the Université de Sherbrooke campus is home to an abundance of flora and fauna of some 300 species. And about 28% of vertebrates and 64% of invertebrates are nocturnal, of which several species, affected by too much ambient light, are endangered. “The idea is to have a path on the territory to allow the animals to go to the river and return to the mountain without encountering too much light,” explains Johanne Roby. The University’s environmental students helped us in our research so that we have a viable ecological corridor superimposed on a corridor of darkness. “
Fight against blue light
To move towards this ambitious goal, the two star seekers and their team had to fight several head-on battles beforehand. In priority: the fight against blue light. Very harmful at night, this wavelength lurks in the reverberation of screens or in some – not all – types of LED (light-emitting diode) lights that are now ultra-popular. “That is toxic light, as Martin calls it”, says Johanne Roby, pointing in the distance to the huge lamppost of a playground which diffuses a very bright white light, the spectrum of which is full of light. blue.
Night has just fallen at the top of Mount Bellevue, which overlooks the illuminated city from its 333-meter height. A few stars are beginning to appear, but the darkness is not complete: a 33-meter metal cross, similar to that of Mount Royal, set with red lights stands next to the ski lift.
Johanne Roby recounts how the sky still narrowly escaped him. “The City wanted to change the red lights [au néon] of the cross to put it in all the colors. There would have been a lot of blue light! But we intervened quickly in the discussions and, finally, the lights will be replaced by LEDs and will remain red, ”she says. The lighting will even be gradually reduced to 25% of its intensity between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., she adds, welcoming the City’s collaboration in this matter.
Martin Aubé also applauds the efforts of the municipality, which began ten years ago during the development of a regulation on light pollution in the wake of obtaining by the Mont-Mégantic Observatory ( OMM) of its status as an international dark sky reserve. “Like all municipal regulations, it applied to the private sector. For example, any building that was installed had to apply for a permit and show in its plans and specifications that it did not emit more than 10% of blue light, that the light was not going to be directed towards the sky, etc. », Explains Mr. Aubé. “The beauty of it is that Hydro-Sherbrooke, which manages lighting for the City, has voluntarily decided to comply with the regulations. »All new street lights must now work with an amber LED, and the City is planning in its annual current expenses for the gradual replacement of its street lighting fleet.
Towards a model district
Crossing Dunant Street from the Mont Bellevue parking lot, you can see a clean residential area guarded by a sentry: a brand new gas station. Being also lit, this sector overshadows the starry sky project. Thanks to a device installed on the roof of a car and which makes it possible to calculate the brightness of the sky and the presence of blue light, Martin Aubé and his team had already understood that it would take much more than the reduction of the lighting of street so that the stars align. His research actually found that about more than 50% of light pollution comes from private properties and land.
The places where night is natural are an exception on the planet
“It’s easy to act on urban lighting, but that’s not the problem! It brings us back to our objective of educating the population. It was Johanne Roby and her students who got down to this task. In addition to the door-to-door awareness campaign, they organized a crowdfunding campaign to buy the bulbs deemed adequate and offer them to citizens for installation. “We want to make it a model district for good lighting practices. People from all over town are going to be able to come and see and do the same. Then we will take the businesses on board. “
And while dreaming of the stars, you might as well aim for the moon. The Dark Sky Oasis project will soon obtain accreditation from the International Dark Sky Association, which will allow the site to become an urban place of nocturnal integrity (urban night sky place). As for Martin Aubé, he is part of a committee of experts at the United Nations responsible for formulating recommendations to cities around the world on light pollution. “At the United Nations, one of the recommendations is to aim for a reduction in the intensity of lighting [extérieur] at 10%. What Sherbrooke is doing by reducing to 25% is already enormous. But in a year, seeing that everything is going well and that no one notices it, we will perhaps be able to convince the City to go further and be the first to comply with UN standards. “Brilliant!
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