The Queensland town of Winton has been certified as an International Dark Sky Community.
The town has committed to managing its light pollution and installed warm bulbs in its streetlights.
Winton Shire Council and tourism operators believe the certification will attract stargazers wanting to experience the natural night sky.
My wife was a born and raised big city girl. She never knew what a real night sky looked like outside of the 20 or so brightest objects you can see in the city. She was well travelled, but only to other cities. She has never even gone camping.
When we were dating, after discovering she had not seen a real night sky in her life, late one night I took her on a drive out to the outer edge of farm country. Not even close to actual dark sky, but way better than anything she had ever seen. It was a magical moment. She never knew you could see the milky way, let alone Andromeda with your eyes.
Imagine being a young adult woman and only ever having seen a handful of the brightest stars. Some boy you dig, but barely know gets all excited when the conversation turns to astronomy, which you know nothing about and aside from polite conversation with a cute boy, don’t care about at all. You are self conscious that this boy is pointing out that you know nothing about this topic, and with a touch of humility, you confirm his assessment. He suddenly gets this cheshire cat’s grin, whisks you into his car at 11pm on a Friday and drives 2 hours out into the country at 1am, on a whim.
You’re tired and nervous. The drive is long enough for various weird scenarios to pop into your head, not all of them good. How well do you know this boy? He stops the car at a dead end dirt road without so much as a streetlight. Just farms and forest in the distance. Its a warm summer night. He turns off the car and gets out. It takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the darkness after the headlights go out. He gets out of the car and opens the door for you. A cool gentle breeze blows on your face and you can hear crickets chirping. He holds both your hands warmly, gives you the biggest smile, looks deep into your eyes in a long silence. Eventually he says “Now look up”. You follow his eyes as they turn skyward.
Then you see it for the first time.
Married now for ~ 20 years, and while I’ve had more than my fair share of less than charming moments, she still says when I put in the effort, I can be devastatingly romantic.
Awww. That’s beautiful.