Dark Skies Workshop - Registration Open

One of Scotland’s greatest natural treasures is its extensive areas of land with minimal light pollution, where we can still observe truly dark skies. Importantly, such areas can be accessed with some ease. Scottish dark skies have their well-known and expansive counterpart above what is now Canada. It is therefore natural for the University of Aberdeen and the University of Calgary — alongside other partners — to come together in the exploration of this phenomenon.

The workshop will explore this theme from a multidisciplinary perspective. In the context of the humanities, we will ask how the experience of being exposed to skies unpolluted by artificial light shaped the development of human culture, religion, and science in antiquity. Modern sciences will bring other pertinent questions, such as what the term ‘dark sky’ actually means in terms of physics, or how light pollution affects fauna, flora, and humans. Further, legal and ethical aspects of light pollution will be discussed in the context of policymaking. In exploring these questions, we will gain insights also from observational practices grounded in community knowledge. This exploratory workshop will take place on the campus of the University of Aberdeen in Old Aberdeen but with hybrid delivery of lectures and presentations, welcoming participants and speakers in person and online alike. The event is open to professional academics, students at all levels, pupils of secondary schools, policymakers, and members of the public. It is envisaged as the first in a series of events dedicated to dark skies, in the past and today.

See the programme: https://dark-skies-exploration.github.io/.

*The image used here is a painting by an artist from the circle of the Scottish portrait painter David Scougal (d. 1685), held by the University Collections of the University of Aberdeen, and licensed under CC BY 4.0. The painting depicts James Gregory (1638-1675), a Scottish astronomer and mathematician, born in Aberdeenshire and educated in Marischal College, one of the constituent units of the University of Aberdeen. This workshop is held in his memory.