New standards in the fight against light pollution are revolutionizing Chile’s skies, providing benefits for stargazers, human health, and biodiversity. Chile’s attractiveness to astronomers is due to its ideal stargazing conditions, especially in the Atacama Desert, where clear skies and a stable atmosphere offer optimal observing opportunities. This has led to the establishment of numerous world-class observatories in Chile, including the European Southern Observatory’s facilities at La Silla, Cerro Paranal (home to the Very Large Telescope), and Cerro Armazones (where the Extremely Large Telescope is being constructed). Additionally, the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab operates the Gemini South Telescope, the SOAR telescope, and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The construction of the 25.4-meter aperture Giant Magellan Telescope is also underway at the Las Campanas Observatory.
To protect the dark-sky status for astronomers, regions in Chile hosting these observatories, namely Antofagasta, Atacama, and Coquimbo, have enforced lighting regulations for years. Now, the Chilean Ministry of the Environment is implementing a New National Lighting Standard across the country, aiming to replicate the success of these science locations.
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However, these lighting standards go beyond preserving the night sky solely for astronomy. Research from various countries reveals that light pollution negatively affects both human health and wildlife.
Daniela González, the executive director of the non-profit organization Fundación Cielos de Chile, which works to protect the dark sky, highlighted the scientific evidence showing the detrimental effects of light pollution on people. Exposure to light pollution has been linked to obesity, depression, as well as breast cancer and prostate cancer.
The new standards aim to improve outdoor lighting, such as street-lamps and floodlights, by shifting from intense blue light to softer amber hues. Furthermore, illuminated advertising is required to remain switched off between midnight and 7am, envisioning a scenario where major advertising spaces like New York City’s Time Square or London’s Piccadilly Circus are dark for seven hours daily.
González stated, “The New National Lighting Standard will allow a rational, efficient, and sustainable use of artificial lighting by establishing intensity, color temperature, and time limits. This ensures compatibility between the protection of people and the environment and the proper use of light.”
For the first time in Chile, the new regulations explicitly recognize biodiversity as being under threat from light pollution, offering additional protection to wildlife impacted by artificial light.
For instance, insect pollinators, crucial for crop maintenance, are often active at night and rely on moonlight or starlight for navigation. Artificial light disrupts their natural behavior and has contributed to their population decline.
The Markham storm petrel, a seabird native to Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, is another species endangered by light pollution. These birds depend on the moon and stars to guide their flight from nests to breeding sites in the desert. Urban lighting disorients them, leading to confusion and hindering their successful journey to the Atacama Desert.
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González emphasized, “Various research evidence that light pollution reduces biodiversity because it alters the feeding, reproduction, and migration patterns of some species. This New National Lighting Standard seeks to reverse these negative impacts in strategic conservation areas.”
Moreover, the regulations safeguard the dark sky sanctuary accommodating the numerous observatories in Chile. In a statement earlier this year, Guillermo Blanc, the president of Fundación Cielos de Chile and an associate director at Carnegie Observatories and Las Campanas, expressed concerns about light pollution’s threat to astronomy in Chile.
Blanc warned, “The Atacama Desert has always been an extremely dark place, which has unique conditions for astronomical observations, but the advance of this pollution, at the rapid and accelerated rate we are currently seeing, puts at risk the viability of the operation of astronomical observatories in the next 30 years. We risk losing the best, if not the only, place from which many observations can be made to understand and learn about the universe.”
Therefore, it is fitting that astronomy has influenced the responsible use of lighting throughout Chile, and that the country’s lighting standards align with the requirements of the astronomical community.
