III Starlight Conference (New Zealand 2009)

III Starlight Conference (New Zealand 2012)

The III International Starlight Conference was held in the lake Tekapo (New Zealand) in June 2012. This conference was the third world Conference of a series which initiated with hte first world Conference in Defense of the Night Sky and the Right to Observe the Stars in April 2007, in La Palma – where the Starlight Declaration was approved – and to which followed the II Starlight Conference of Fuerteventura in March 2009.

The success of the Conference of New Zealand, which was due to a large extent to the local organizers: the University of Canterbury and the Astronomic Royal Society of New Zealand.

In the Conference the issues below were addressed:

- Role and purpose of a Starlight Reserve.

- Public education and disclosure of a Starlight Reserve.

- Starlight Reserves and astro-tourism.

- The Starlight Declaration (2007) and the right to see the stars.

- The lighting pollution and the controls of lighting pollution through lighting Ordinances.

- The dark sky and the movement of the park, including the administration of the park, based on the science and the visitors related to the protection of the light of the stars, with the protection of the landscape, the ecology and the biosphere.

- Radio astronomy and the radio frequency interference (RFI), radio-quiet areas and the mitigation of RFI, the selection of sites in New Zealand for the radio-astronomy.

- Starlight Reserves as a protection for the astronomic research.

- Cultural features of the stars and the stars in the civilization and the society.

Issues of importance were also discussed such as the application and the benefits of the Starlight Reserves and Destinations as a mean to protect the night sky, as well as the progresses of the Thematic Study “Heritage of the astronomy and the archaeoastronomy in the context of the Convention of the World Heritage” (IAU-ICOMOS). We highlight the participation in this conference of the Coordinator of the Starlight Initiative Mr. Cipriano Marín and Dr. Antonia Varela, researcher of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC).

Web of the Conference:

http://www.phys.canterbury.ac.nz/Conferences/Third_International_Starlight_Conference/