Science Behind the Scenery Program Focuses on Night Skies

“幕后科学”系列讲座聚焦夜空保护

Date: August 1, 2007

日期：2007年8月1日

Contact: Kyle Patterson, 970-586-1363

联系人：凯尔·帕特森，970-586-1363

It is difficult to believe at first, how could something so simple and harmless as light be considered a pollutant? After all, the day is full of light, so how could a little light at night be so bad? The answer is simply that artificial light at night is out of place, so even a small amount of light can greatly change the essence of night. Join Dr. Tyler Nordgren as he discusses the National Park Service’s Night Sky Program during the Science Behind the Scenery Series at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 9, at Beaver Meadows Visitor Center in Rocky Mountain National Park.

起初可能很难相信，像光这样简单无害的东西怎么会被认为是污染物呢？毕竟，白天充满了光，为何夜晚的一点光线就成了问题？答案很简单：夜晚的人工光不合时宜，因此即使是少量的光线也会极大地改变夜晚的本质。加入泰勒·诺德格伦博士的行列，他将在8月9日，星期四晚上7点，在落基山国家公园的海狸牧场游客中心举行的“幕后科学”系列讲座中，探讨国家公园管理局的夜空保护计划。

Astronomers were first to sound the alarm as the view of the night sky through telescopes and unaided eyes literally disappeared while city lights grew brighter. Stray light increases the brightness of the night sky making space appear light gray or pale yellow, and causing stars and faint objects to be lost by reduced contrast. Light pollution also prevents the human eye from fully dark–adapting, whether you are outside looking at the night sky or trying to get sleep with a light shining in your window.

当天文学家发现随着城市灯光日益明亮，通过望远镜和甚至肉眼观测到的夜空景象正在逐渐消失，他们首先敲响了警钟。杂散光增加了夜空的亮度，使天空呈现浅灰色或淡黄色，并因对比度降低导致星星和微弱天体“消失”。无论你是在户外仰望星空，还是试图在灯光照进窗户的情况下入睡，光污染都会阻止人眼完全适应黑暗。

National parks are protective harbors for some of the last remaining dark skies in this country. The National Park Service has come to embrace night skies as one of the many scenic vistas the agency is a steward of. It is essential to keeping a park whole and touches on almost every aspect that is important to us, from sustainability to stargazers, and animals to ancient ruins.

国家公园是美国仅存的一些真正黑暗天空的庇护所。国家公园管理局已将夜空视为其守护的众多壮丽风景之一。这对维护公园的完整性至关重要，它几乎涉及到对我们来说重要的每一个方面，从可持续性到观星爱好者，从野生动物到古代遗址。

The program is free and open to the public. For more information about Rocky Mountain National Park please call the park’s information office at (970) 586-1206.

本次活动免费向公众开放。有关落基山国家公园的更多信息，请致电公园的信息办公室：（970）586-1206。