April 15-22, 2018
Celebrate the stars! Created in 2003 by high-school student Jennifer Barlow, International Dark Sky Week (IDSW) has grown to become a worldwide event and a key component of Global Astronomy Month. The goals of IDSW are to appreciate the beauty of the night sky and to raise awareness of how poor-quality lighting creates light pollution.
Light pollution is a growing problem. Not only does it have detrimental effects on our views of the night sky, but it also disrupts the natural environment, wastes energy, and has the potential to cause health problems.
IDSW is a great time to host a neighborhood star party to introduce the idea of preserving a dark night sky to your community or to evaluate your own lighting to make sure that it is dark sky friendly.
There lots of great ways to participate. The more people there are that turn out their lights, the less light pollution there will be. How can you help the cause? Find some great ways to fight light pollution and some cool IDSW events at the International Dark-Sky Association’s IDSW page.
Follow the Dark Skies Awareness blog and check out these Dark Sky Resources.
Share your experience with the world on Facebook or Twitter using #GAM2018 and #IDSW2018. Follow @gam_awb and @IDADarkSky.
