Light pollution at night prevents 99 percent of people in the United States from seeing the night sky with the detail our ancestors once saw, but a growing effort to preserve the dark sky is taking root in East Tennessee.
The Obed Wild and Scenic River in Morgan County is among the newest of around 60 locations around the world designated as an International Dark Sky Park.
"If you've ever looked at a nationwide light pollution map, for the Eastern half of the United States, the picture can look pretty grim," Ranger Rick Ryan said. "But if you take a closer look regionally at some of the areas you'll still find several pockets of darkness still exist, and I think that makes it even more important for places like the Obed to bring attention to the dark sky resource that is here."
Becoming certified as an International Dark Sky Park was a 5-year process for the staff at the Obed. In addition to measuring the darkness and demonstrating exceptional dark sky qualities, the park had to ensure permanent public access to the park.
Each month, rangers lead night sky programs at the park that make it easy to peer deeper into space. The park provides telescopes so anyone can see stars and planets with detail without investing hundreds or thousands of dollars in astronomy gear.
"A lot of people are surprised when they come out on the boardwalk and see this gigantic telescope out here that' taller than some of them are," Ryan said. "And sharing folks first view, like of Jupiter tonight, to get to see the planets and the bands of color on the planet and four moons along the with the planet, it's just really inspiring to share that with people."
The Obed Wild & Scenic River is the second park in Tennessee to gain recognition by the International Dark Sky Association. In 2015, Picket CCC Memorial State Park and Pogue Creek Canyon State Natural Area were jointly award silver status by IDA.
Currently park leaders are working to make Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area a Dark Sky Park.
"We've initiated the process to measure the darkness at Big South Fork. That's part of the process and then we're also inventorying the lights," Ryan said.
Developing a plan for light management at the Obed was simple. The park decided to never install any outdoor lights.
"Big South Fork does have outdoor lighting, so we're taking a look at that and figuring out what adjustments need to be made to have dark-sky friendly lighting in the park," Ryan said.
Park leaders hope the Big South Fork designation process can be completed in 2-3 years. Big South Fork, like the Obed, already has programs in place to help visitors enjoy the night sky.
"Coming out here people see how different this is than perhaps their home in Knoxville or Oak Ridge. If you look around, there're no streetlights around, there're no spotlights that are searching the sky. All we have is just the natural light or the handheld flashlight that we're carrying," Ryan said. "It's a great place day or night, but at night it's even more special with what up above our heads to look at."