International Dark Sky Week celebrated at observatory outside Calgary

The Rothney Astrophysical Observatory will be hosting a space night, touting the benefits of dark skies for stargazing and wildlife.

The April 23 event is part of International Dark Sky Week, which sheds light on the harm caused by light pollution.

"Very simply put, light pollution is the overuse of light at night by people. It's stray, it's unwanted light," explained Dr. Phil Langill, the observatory's director. "It is accidental light that shines up into the sky at night that prevents people from enjoying the stars, but also it's more than that."

Langill says dark sky week focuses on the downside of "too much light," a problem that's full scope he soon discovered was foreign to many of his colleagues in the astronomy world.

"After a short amount of time I discovered the people who really know the most about light pollution are biologists, people who study animal behavior," Langill told CTV News Morning Live Calgary. "They've been noticing for decades, the impact of too much light at night, and what its impact is on the natural environment. So ,I'm starting to come around I'm both an astronomer interested in keeping the sky dark for astronomy, but from the perspective of just improving the natural world and keeping it pristine and sustainable,  I think the dark skies is really, really important there too."

The observatory is located in a rural area southwest of Calgary, not far from the Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area, Canada's first nocturnal reserve.

"The light might not affect the animals directly but more fundamentally it affects their food supply," said Langill. "If you're an animal that hunts at night, and your food supply is being shifted around or moved by the fact that the light is too bright, then that affects all sorts of animals."

Langill calls light pollution "a very sad thing," adding that the issue isn't the result of nefarious motives.

"We don't do it on purpose. We need lights at night to do things safely, but I think we just need to be smarter about our choices of how much light and where we put light and how we implement light that makes it work for us but can still keep (other areas) dark."

For more information on space night and International Dark Sky Week, including ticket information, visit Rothney Astrophysical Observatory.