Astronomy in Hoegaarden

May 15 2012

After long, long weeks of rain and showers, we finally had one single clear night last Saturday (12th May).

Saturn is now clearly rising slowly over the SouthEastern horizon.

This is the resulting picture:

After a close analysis of the images, there are some details on the Red-colored channel which are intriguing. Are these artefacts or real details? Anyhow they are visible on the series taken around 1am MEZT, and they also do not show up on earlier images at 9PM Saturday evening.

March 11 2012 (update May 15th):

New public lighting Meldert

After being a few days abroad, upon my return Eandis was renewing the lighting posts in Meldert. As such a very good inititiative, with better shielded and more economic lights. The lights used are Schreder Saffire 1, with a 70W  bulb.

Compared with the old Schreder  VZ low-pressure Natrium, these had supposedly 55W lights, so there is an effective increase in electricity use of 15 Watt.

On a yearly basis counting 356 nights with an average of 6 hours and 50 posts this is an increase of 1.602.000 Watt hours per year or 1602 kWhr. There are also about 10 additional lamp posts so the total increase is higher: almost 3.000.000 Watt hours yearly of energy consumption. That's the average of a household yearly.  

After verifying the planned pole locations, it seems that the new poles will NOT be on the same location as the old poles !!!!!!  For my own observing spot this is a disaster: instead of the lights being blocked by adjacent buildings, the new poles are put across the street, pointing in the opposite direction, or more precisely: strait into my observing lot.

In practice this means almost no observing is possible anymore from my observing lot at home, no more pictures. Also the neighbourhoud starwatch, or local starparties at my home are not possible anymore.  At this point the lamps are not yet functioning.

I sincerely hope the community will be able to adjust the situation. I called in the help of our counciller for the environment, Marleen Lefevre.

The Flanders legislation VLAREMII strictly prohibits lighting into the private home situation, coming from public sources.

March 2012

Late february astronomy only possible after 4am due to unshielded lighting of greenhouses. This lasts untill April.

Since a few weeks, a Greenhouse on Keulen, Meldert, is 'pushing' growth of vegetation in a large greenhouse.

Lighting that is not shielded correctly, results in heavy excessive lightpollution. In one day Meldert turned from a dark sky location into a heavily polluted area. Hopefully the strawberries will grow fast so the lights go out.

In fact in a rural environment this is not allowed anymore.

The lighting is not according to regulations.

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What? Astronomy in Hoegaarden?

Probably better known for the famous white beer, but Hoegaarden also hides another unique fact.

As one of the last communities in Flanders, Hoegaarden is positioned near a relatively dark area. You can still see stars and sometimes even the Milky Way is clearly visible with the naked eye.

It's the open landscape with fields that harbors few sources of light pollution. The horizon stretches to Jodoigne and Beauvechain, the 'plateau de Boneffe' must be one of the darkest places nearby.

From Hoegaarden and Meldert, one can still enjoy a pretty starry night.

Unfortunately, read the 'Light Pollution' page and discover how lights are slowly killing the stars.

More and stunning images from our nightsky at Luc Debeck's site

 For general information contact:

 Info@drogenberg.be

 For joining the Hoegaarden Starparty:

 Starparty@drogenberg.be

 For special events of starparties on Twitter:

 @StarpartyHoegaa

 For joining the Astronomical Seeing network  Benelux (Planetary High Resolution Imaging):

Omwille van het internationaal karakter is ervoor gekozen deze website Engelstalig op te starten. Een Nederlandstalige versie volgt spoedig.

Nieuws

3/2/2012» Latest Mars picture from Luc (click on 'Planets')

1/2/2012»Hoegaarden officieel donkerste Eandis gemeente (van 239 gemeentes)

25/1/2012» Jupiter en Venus
Langzaam nadert Jupiter vanuit het zuiden Venus, die in het Westen klimt. Beiden zijn 's aonds zichtbaar als de helderste sterren aan de hemel

15/01/2012: Twitter netwerk Seeing »
Volg @AstroSeeing en tweet de seeing condities of lees verslagen van andere waarnemers. Bedoeld voor hoge-resolutie planeetwaarnemingen.

2/12/2011: Sterrenkijkdagen Meldert »
Veel volk en opklaringen op het kasteel in Meldert

15/11/2011: Nacht van de Duisternis »
Zo'n 50 wandelaars zochten de duisternis op en bekeken de lichtpollutie vanaf de Marollenkapel

9/11/2011: Eerste Nachtreservaat in Europa is officieel

Drogenberg Observations