National Parks provide unparalleled opportunities for the public to experience awe-inspiring night skies. Astronomy-based programs are among the most popular activities in parks, and astronomy tourism is trending nationwide. However, increasing use of outdoor light at night is taking its toll, such that nearly 80% of North Americans can no longer see the Milky Way.
The National Park Service (NPS) was established in 1916 to preserve and protect the natural and cultural resources and values of national parks for public enjoyment. As part of the Washington Support Office, the Natural Sounds and Night Skies team responds to technical assistance requests from parks for data needed to inform park management and night sky interpretive programs.
To better serve parks in this role, I led a team in the development of NPS Fisheye Night Sky Imager: a lightweight camera system capable of assessing the entire night sky brightness in a single snapshot. Previous technology required stitching together 45 photos to fabricate a full sky mosaic. Our innovative solution is more accurate, expedient, and offers more flexibility for observing myriad sky conditions.
Python is our language of choice for processing raw photometric data. We created an open-source pipeline that transforms raw images into positionally and brightness-calibrated fisheye views of the night sky. Our new cameras coupled with the Python pipeline, allow us to quickly measure sky brightness and deliver the best scientific information.
We now have five cameras distributed system-wide, and numerous park staff from a variety of backgrounds (e.g., biology, ecology, engineering, astronomy, geography, etc.) have been trained in using the Python pipeline.
This talk showcases how Python plays a crucial role in managing night skies in National Parks and highlights the language as a user-friendly tool that empowers users from various disciplines.