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PERSPECTIVES:

• About DSI
• Essence of DSI
• Mission & Goals
• Voluntary vs Laws
• Dark Sky Pledge

ENLIGHTENMENT:

• Dark Sky Quiz
• How Dark Is My Sky?
• Why Bother?
• You're a Stargazer
• Lights (images)

PRESS FORWARD:

• Adopt-A-Star
• Awareness/Action
• Smart Lightscapes
• Ya Got Trouble
• Scopes in Schools
• Awareness Ribbon
• Dark Sky Nights
• You Can Save Starlight
• Got A Plan?

Who is Milky Way Man?

Bonus Links

• Dark Sky Stories
• Ames at Night
• DSI 2020 Brochure
• What's Done
• In Memory...
• Ames Streetlight Map
• Milky Way Mascot
• Future America
• Astronomy Course
• DM Register Column
• Astronaut Memorial
• DSI Site Map

Every student in America sees the wee world through a microscope, but few students view the universe through a telescope. Telescopes provide your community with the incentive and motivation to restore a dark night sky.

I propose that your community buy, beg, or build a bunch of telescopes, donate them to the local high school, and give youngsters the opportunity to savor the cosmos.

Today's telescopes are technologically remarkable, user-friendly, relatively inexpensive, portable, durable and readily available.

Use the following steps to acquire telescopes in your community.

1. Find several people / parents in your city willing to commit to the effort.
2. Contact teachers (especially science) in your school district.
3. Explain your desire to make telescopes available to high school students.
4. If teachers are overwhelmed with work (not unusual), find someone else.
5. Decide which telescopes are best for your community. All telescopes have advantages and disadvantages. NO single scope is perfect.
6. READ telescope ads carefully. Every telescope looks good in advertising photos. Remember, you are looking for a portable, durable telescope. I can help you.
7. Look through various telescopes in your community, if possible.
8. Find funding for telescopes. Find someone to teach students how to use them correctly. I am creating a short, generic curriculum guide to help.

IMPORTANT:

• Not all telescopes are created equally. Some are very low quality.
• There are many companies producing and selling quality telescopes today.
• Telescopes galore are found in current issues of the following magazines:

SKY & TELESCOPE (www.skyandtelescope.com/)

ASTRONOMY (www.astronomy.com)

REMEMBER: The only good telescopes are those outside collecting starlight every clear night and motivating your community to save the Milky Way! Look at the REVOLUTION Galileo set off with a telescope! Start your own DARK SKY REVOLUTION with a few telescopes in your town!