Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary Marks First IDSS Anniversary

Summary: On Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, the Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary, sited in northern Chile’s Elqui Province, marks its first IDSS anniversary.

rarefied, remote environment of Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary in the Chilean Andes; Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009, image taken during LAN (Línea Aerea Nacional) Chile flight from La Serena, Coquimbo Region (Spanish: Región de Coquimbo), northern Chile, to Santiago, Central Valley Region (Spanish: Valle Central), central Chile: Puzhok, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

On Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, the Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary, sited at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) Observatory in north central Chile’s Elqui Province, marks its first IDSS anniversary as the world’s first International Dark Sky Sanctuary.

On Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), a non-profit organization promoting global dark sky heritages, announced the designation during the XXIX General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), held Monday, Aug. 3, to Friday, Aug. 14, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Five months later, in January 2016, the Cosmic Campground, a 3.5 acre (1.42 hectare) site in western New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, joined the Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary as the second of only two such designated sites.

An IDA Dark Sky Sanctuary typically is a geographically isolated site, on private or public land, with a protected nocturnal environment offering an extraordinary quality of starry skies. The International Dark-Sky Association highly regards public outreach, but the geographical remoteness associated with potential sanctuaries tends to limit opportunities for public programs. The association aims to raise awareness of these fragile locations and to promote their long-term preservation by way of sanctuary designations.

“Dark Sky Sanctuaries are the rarest and most fragile dark places left on the planet,” John Barentine, IDA Dark Sky Places program manager, explains in the association’s Aug. 9, 2015, press release. “The Sanctuaries designation fills a need for the recognition and protection of examples of how the world appeared before the introduction of electric lighting.”

As the first International Dark Sky Sanctuary, the site of the AURA (Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy) Observatory is known as the Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary. The sanctuary’s namesake was the literary pseudonym of Lucila Godoy y Alcayaga (April 7, 1889-Jan. 10, 1957). In 1945, the Chilean poet became the first Latin American recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary is located on Cerro Pachón, a mountain in the Chilean Andes near the Chilean Nobel laureate’s birthplace, Vicuña.

The sanctuary encompasses more than 90,000 acres (35,000 hectares) in Elqui Province, the northernmost province in north central Chile’s Coquimbo Region. The mountainous terrain hosts four major astronomical research facilities solely or jointly operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy comprises a consortium of 42 U.S. universities and five international affiliates operating state-of-the-art astronomical observatories and telescopes. AURA aims to advance excellence in astronomical research and to promote public and educational outreach by way of the consortium’s world-class astronomical facilities.

The AURA observatory in Chile is one of two sites comprising the association’s International Gemini Project. AURA’s Gemini Observatory consists of twin telescopes providing nearly complete coverage of northern and southern skies from two sites, Gemini North on Hawaii Island’s Mauna Kea volcano and Gemini South in Chile.

In addition to Gemini South, AURA also operates the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) complex as part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the United States’ National Science Foundation-funded national center for ground-based night astronomy. As the NOAO’s southern branch, CTIO is paired with Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) near Tucson, southeastern Arizona.

As NOAO’s official operator, AURA partners in the sanctuary’s third major facility, the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR). Other members of the SOAR consortium are Brazil’s Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica (National Astrophysics Laboratory), Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The fourth major facility is the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), currently under construction. Slated for full science operations in 2022, LSST will conduct a 10-year survey of the entire visible sky. Education and outreach activities will be planned around public engagement.

International Dark Sky Sanctuary is one of five designations offered by the association’s Dark Sky Places program. Dark Sky Developments of Distinction, International Dark Community, International Dark Sky Park, and International Dark Sky Reserves comprise the program’s four additional designations.

The takeaway for the first IDSS anniversary logged by Chile’s Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary is awareness and appreciation of the fragile, remote site’s significance as an oasis of carefully preserved, darkened skies. The ramifications of the intensive astronomical research encouraged by the sanctuary’s natural skies, unobstructed by light pollution, have global significance.

The world's first International Dark Sky Sanctuary honors Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American author to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature; ca. 1933 photo of Gabriela Mistral (center) with Salvadoran artist and writer Luis Salvador Efrain Salazar Arrué, known as Salarrué (left) and Nicaraguan intellectual Adolfo Ortega Díaz (right): Colección Sallarué/Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

rarefied, remote environment of Gabriela Mistral Dark Sky Sanctuary in the Chilean Andes; Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009, image taken during LAN (Línea Aerea Nacional) Chile flight from La Serena, Coquimbo Region (Spanish: Región de Coquimbo), northern Chile, to Santiago, Central Valley Region (Spanish: Valle Central), central Chile: Puzhok, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cerro_Las_Tortolas_indistance_incenter.jpg

The world's first International Dark Sky Sanctuary honors Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral; ca. 1933 photo of Gabriela Mistral (center) with Salvadoran artist and writer Luis Salvador Efrain Salazar Arrué, known as Salarrué (left) and Nicaraguan intellectual Adolfo Ortega Díaz (right): Colección Sallarué/Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salarrué_y_Gabriela_Mistral.jpg

For further information:

“7 Dark Sky Highlights of 2015.” International Dark-Sky Association > Awards. Dec. 31, 2015.
Available @ http://darksky.org/7-dark-sky-highlights-of-2015/

“Chilean Astronomical Site Becomes World’s First International Dark Sky Sanctuary.” International Dark-Sky Association > Dark Sky Places. Aug. 9, 2015.
Available @ http://darksky.org/chilean-astronomical-site-becomes-worlds-first-international-dark-sky-sanctuary/

IDA Dark-Sky @IDADarkSky. “Chilean Astronomical Site Becomes World’s First International Dark Sky Sanctuary.” Twitter. Aug. 10, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/IDADarkSky/status/630634947812945920