Eyes on the Night Skies Over Vero Beach

On a moonless night in 1980, my college roommate and I sneaked out of our dormitory with a blanket and lay on our backs looking at the sky. We stayed out for hours as stars and planets whirled above, naming the constellations we knew and making up others, just based on naked-eye observations. No satellites or space stations crossed our view—just the occasional meteor. It was an experience I wish I could duplicate today, but the lit-up world we live in now makes it more challenging to see a multitude of stars and planets.

In Florida, we have two certified Dark Sky parks: Big Cypress National Preserve and Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. These places still afford a view of the heavens, but not like it used to be.

“I have been in Vero Beach for more than 45 years and have noticed that I can’t see as many stars as in past years,” says Patrick Mugan, Treasure Coast spokesman for DarkSky International, formerly the International Dark Sky Association. “We have lost almost two magnitudes of stars.”

Measuring just how much light pollution is affecting the sky in any given area is commonly done with the Bortle Scale, a numeric rating system with nine classes. Class 1 is a pristine dark sky, such as you might see in Northern Canada, revealing the Milky Way in detail with constellations and stars easily visible, and Class 9 is a brilliantly lit urban sky where only the moon and the brightest of planets may be seen.

In Vero Beach, we hover just above a Class 7. “Going to Kissimmee Prairie renews my acquaintance with the stars,” says Mugan. The increasing sky glow from urban areas means Kissimmee is not as dark as it used to be. “Once a photon of light is emitted, it travels in a straight line until it hits something, is reflected, refracted, or absorbed.”

Fortunately, astrophotographers here in Florida are still able to show us what our skies look like using highly sophisticated telescopes, cameras, and software to pull it all together. Rob Martin, official photographer for the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society, produces gorgeous images that are the products of hundreds of hours of patience and effort. “Much of my inspiration comes from the season,” he says. “I usually look for targets that are just above the eastern horizon at dusk so that I can shoot them all night.”

To get clear shots and capture only the light from far above, astrophotographers use tracking software that follows the movement of the targeted celestial object. Instead of programming for hours-long exposures, Martin uses stacking software to align the individual images taken by the camera to the position of the stars in each frame. The images are then combined, or stacked, to capture more light. “I generally base my hobby on the ubiquitous five-minute exposure, and then stack those,” he explains. “If the object I am shooting has a bright area that will ‘flood’ a long exposure, like the Orion Nebula, I will shorten the exposure time drastically. With Orion, I generally shoot with 10-second exposures.”

When we look at the Hubble Space Telescope’s dramatic color photos, we are seeing the colors as assigned by software. “There are three major types of gases in space that form what we see as nebulae,” explains Martin. “The most prevalent is hydrogen alpha. It occupies roughly 656 nanometers on the visible spectrum, or deep red. The second most abundant gas is oxygen III, which is at 496 to 500 nanometers on the spectrum and is between blue-green and turquoise. The last major gas is sulfur II, also a deep red at around 672 nanometers.”

Martin will also use certain filters to reduce the enemy of night sky viewing: light pollution. “I shoot most often from my backyard, and I have a big-box store less than a mile from my house,” he says. “In the days before LED lighting, it was easy to filter out incandescent, sodium, or tungsten light because they occupied narrow bands on the visible light spectrum. LED lights occupy such a wide swath of the visible spectrum that they overlap everything I’m trying to shoot.”

At the Hallstrom Planetarium in Fort Pierce, its director, Professor Jon Bell, unveils the ultimate reality show. “At first, we’ll show a sunset, and then, with the twilight glow surrounding the dome’s horizon, I’ll point out a few of the bright stars, the moon, or a planet or two,” he says. “It takes several minutes for people to get their night vision as the pupils in their eyes dilate.” Bell then poses a question: “Wouldn’t it be great to get away from all these street lights?” He drops the light entirely, and the sky goes totally black. “The stars, thousands of them now, appear all at once,” he says. “That is the effect that elicits gasps from the audience. Now they can see what they have been missing and didn’t realize it until that moment.”

Municipalities and private developers are working together to reduce sky glow in lighting plans. Chuck Mechling, developer and head of operations for Insite Solutions, worked dark sky concepts into the plan for the development Spirit of Sebastian.

“We talked with city planners about the benefits of reduced lighting for people and animals, and asked Florida Power & Light not to install the bubble-style streetlights that shine in every direction,” says Mechling. “We talked about putting a special top on the light with the bulb shining only downward.” When the lights were installed, it was obvious they did not have the requested lids on them, but this was soon corrected. “When they were switched out to the dark sky–friendly version with the lids, the difference was very dramatic.”

Mechling is inspired to take the Spirit of Sebastian’s eco-conscious, agri-hood theme to other developments. “It has been really rewarding. The Florida-friendly concept and being more sustainable go hand in hand, and a dark sky is part of that.”

Perhaps the most surprising thing about stargazing is the power of the naked eye. This past June, no telescope was required to see the parade of planets, with Venus, 24 million miles from Earth; Mercury, averaging 92 million miles away; and Jupiter, a staggering 365 million miles distant. The three escorted the crescent moon, plainly laid out in a graceful line like a jeweled necklace in the western sky as the sun set. Winter is the best time for viewing because of drier, colder air; but to get the full effect, we’ll have to go dark.

Hallstrom Planetarium

Jon Bell affectionately calls the Hallstrom Planetarium the “gateway to the universe.” The host of the long-running WQCS radio program Skywatch gives us a preview of what is coming this fall and winter:

“After sunset this fall, you’ll find the Shepherd and the Maiden in the west, while the flying horse Pegasus begins his ascent in the east,” says Bell. “Toward midnight, the venerable constellation Orion appears, 1,400 light-years away, pursuing the great bull Taurus, his faithful hunting dogs rising after him in the small hours of the morning. Towards dawn, we see Leo the Lion rising on his forepaws.”

The Orionid meteor shower will peak October 20 and 21. “After 1 a.m., face toward the east and look upwards toward the top of the sky,” Bell advises. “Let’s hope for clear skies.”

The autumn evening sky and its constellations will be showcased at the planetarium. “Audiences will be introduced to the celestial sea, including the constellations Delphinus the dolphin, Cetus the whale, Pisces the Southern Fish, and the flowing water jug of Aquarius, along with the great celestial river Eridanus,” says Bell.

“In October, with the help of our student astronomy club and members of the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society, we hope to provide guided telescopic views of the ringed planet, Saturn,” he notes.

Laser light shows will return to the planetarium this fall. November’s highlight is Laser Freedom, a musical celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.

In December, look for the Star of Wonder show, a planetarium tradition since 1993. January and February will reveal Mars as Earth passes our neighboring planet, in a show called Red Planet Rising.