The Commission for Dark Skies (CfDS) (formerly the Campaign for Dark Skies; the name was changed on March 29, 2015) is the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's largest anti- light-pollution

campaign group The Socialist Campaign Group, officially the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs and also known as the Campaign Group, is a left-wing, democratic socialist grouping of the Labour Party's Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the ...

forming part of the international

dark-sky movement The dark-sky movement is a campaign to reduce light pollution. The advantages of reducing light pollution include an increased number of stars visible at night, reducing the effects of electric lighting on the environment, improving the well-being, ...

. It is run by the

British Astronomical Association The British Astronomical Association (BAA) was formed in 1890 as a national body to support the UK's amateur astronomers. Throughout its history, the BAA has encouraged observers to make scientifically valuable observations, often in collaborati ...

(BAA) and affiliated with the

International Dark-Sky Association The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is a United States-based non-profit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician/amateur astronomer. The mission of the IDA is " ...

(IDA), and composed of a network o
local officers
(and other members) who try to improve lighting in their areas and advise local people. The campaign was founded in 1989 by

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...

s as a sub-section of the BAA specialising in combatting

skyglow Skyglow (or sky glow) is the diffuse luminance of the night sky, apart from discrete light sources such as the Moon and visible individual stars. It is a commonly noticed aspect of light pollution. While usually referring to luminance arising f ...

. It is now open to non-members of the BAA, includes lighting engineers and environmentalists, and campaigns on the wider effects of light pollution.

Legislation

CfDS's work with the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

Science and Technology Committee Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence fo ...

on legislating against light pollution has resulted in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

including provisions in their Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill.

Dark sky park, island and reserve

Members of the CfDS have been involved in the following

designations: *

Galloway Forest Park Galloway Forest Park is a forest park operated by Forestry and Land Scotland, principally covering woodland in Dumfries and Galloway. It is claimed to be the largest forest in the UK. The park was granted Dark Sky Park status ("Galloway Forest D ...

–

Dark Sky Park A dark-sky preserve (DSP) is an area, usually surrounding a park or observatory, that restricts artificial light pollution. The purpose of the dark-sky movement is generally to promote astronomy. However, astronomy is certainly not the only obje ...

(2009) *

Sark Sark (french: link=no, Sercq, ; Sercquiais: or ) is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of l ...

– IDA's first international dark-sky island (Silver tier) (2011) *

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. ...

– Dark Sky Reserve (2011) * Elan Valley Estate (mid-Wales) Dark Sky Park (2015) * Tomintoul and Glenlivet-Cairngorms Dark Sky Park (2018)

Publications

In 2009, the CfDS published its handbook ''Blinded by the Light?''.

Conferences

* ''CfDS 2006'': Dark-Skies Symposium, Portsmouth, UK, September 15–16, 2006. * ''Exterior lighting, statutory nuisance and light pollution'', De Montfort University, April, 2006. * ''Planning, Exterior Lighting and the Environment'', De Montfort University, 20 April 2012.

Notes

References

* Campaign for Dark Skies, ''Blinded by the Light - A Handbook on light pollution'', Campaign for Dark Skies, 2009 * Mizon, Bob, ''Light Pollution - Responses and Remedies'', Springer, 2002. () * Mizon, Bob, ''Light Pollution - Responses and Remedies'', 2nd Edition, Springer, 2012. () * Mizon, Bob, "20 years of fighting for the stars", ''Astronomy Now'', September 2009. pp28–31 * Mizon, Bob, 'Finding a Million-Star Hotel' Springer, 2018 () * Philip's, in association with the BAA Campaign for Dark Skies, ''Dark Skies Map'', Philip's, 2004. () * Tabb, Michael, "Where are the UK's darkest skies", ''Astronomy Now'', November 2004. pp75–6 (Article on the production of the Philip's ''Dark Skies Map''.) * Various authors, "Focus - Light Pollution", ''Astronomy Now'', April 2001. pp49–59

External links

*
The CfDS's online image library

CfDS - Facebook

CfDS - Twitter

Light Pollution and Astronomy - House of Commons Report, 2003.
(pdf) *Conference Proceedings
''CfDS 2006''
(pdf) : ''Exterior lighting, statutory nuisance and light pollution'', DeMontfort University, April, 2006 :
Light Pollution: Causes and effects
(pdf) :
Exterior Lighting as a Statutory Nuisance
(pdf) :
Is Lighting Needed to reduce Crime?
(pdf) :
Effective use of lighting as a crime deterrent
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