Night Sky Restoration - Presented by Tim Brothers, Observatory Manager at  MIT’s Wallace Astrophysical Observatory (Westford, MA)

Our night sky is in crisis as the fastest growing environmental problem, light pollution, turns night into day. Tim will be speaking to us about a path forward in restoring darkness to our nighttime environment. He recently completed a case study of an LED streetlight retrofit in Pepperell, MA, where by following dark-sky lighting best practices, he measured what effect, if any, there was on the night sky. The results have significant implications for how we approach future lighting installations as the Westford area develops.

Tim Brothers is the Observatory Manager at MIT’s Wallace Astrophysical Observatory (Westford, MA) and a Technical Instructor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. He also co-founded the Massachusetts chapter of DarkSky International, where he is primarily focused on outdoor lighting policy in the region. Tim was recently awarded a minor planet designation, asteroid (28992) Timbrothers, for his work on asteroid detection.