TEDxPhoenix
Lucianne Walkowicz: Look up for a change
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How often do you see the true beauty of the night sky? TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz shows how light pollution is ruining the extraordinary -- and often ignored -- experience of seeing directly into space.
Lucianne Walkowicz - Stellar astronomer
Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, studying starspots and "the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares." Full bio
Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, studying starspots and "the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares." Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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The sky is inherently democratic.
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It's accessible, in principle, anyway,
by anyone, everywhere,
by anyone, everywhere,
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just simply by the act of looking up.
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But like so many
beautiful things around us,
beautiful things around us,
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it's slipping away from us,
and we haven't even noticed,
and we haven't even noticed,
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because we're honestly not really looking.
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So what do we look at instead?
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Well, we look at our phones,
we look at our computers,
we look at our computers,
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we look at screens of all kinds.
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And honestly, we rarely
even take the trouble
even take the trouble
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to look up enough to see each other,
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let alone taking that next step
to looking up at the actual sky.
to looking up at the actual sky.
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Now, there's a tendency to think
that the loss of our dark night skies
that the loss of our dark night skies
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is the inevitable outcome
of progress, change, technology.
of progress, change, technology.
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And you know, that's just simply not true.
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Later on, I'll tell you why.
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But first, I want to tell you
about my experience of the dark night sky.
about my experience of the dark night sky.
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I never saw a truly dark night
sky until I was 15.
sky until I was 15.
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I was here, in Arizona.
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I was on a road trip;
I pulled over somewhere.
I pulled over somewhere.
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I have no idea where I was,
except I know what state.
except I know what state.
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And I looked up,
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and the sky was just filled
with an impossible number of stars.
with an impossible number of stars.
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You see, I'm from New York City,
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and in New York, you can see the moon,
you can see a couple of stars.
you can see a couple of stars.
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More often than not, they turn out
to be airplanes when they land.
to be airplanes when they land.
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(Laughter)
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But there's really not much else.
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As a result, most of my colleagues
who are astronomers
who are astronomers
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spent at least part of their youth
looking up at the sky in their backyard.
looking up at the sky in their backyard.
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I never really had that experience,
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and, as a result, I'm really
disappointing on camping trips.
disappointing on camping trips.
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I don't really know many constellations.
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The ones I do know,
you probably know them, too.
you probably know them, too.
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But I'll never forget that experience
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of the first time I saw
the dark night sky.
the dark night sky.
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And I was just flabbergasted
at how many stars there were.
at how many stars there were.
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And I felt tiny.
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Then I also felt like,
"Where's this been hiding this whole time?
"Where's this been hiding this whole time?
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Who's been hiding this sky from me?"
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Of course, the answer is obvious
if you think about it
if you think about it
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or if you look at the picture on the left,
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where you're seeing the same neighborhood
taken during a blackout
taken during a blackout
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versus on an ordinary night.
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You can't see the stars
if you drown them out with light.
if you drown them out with light.
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Take a look at our planet.
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This is our planet from space.
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Unlike stars, which are hot and glow
invisible light so we can see them,
invisible light so we can see them,
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our planet is, astronomically
speaking, pretty cold.
speaking, pretty cold.
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So it doesn't really glow.
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When you see the planet looking
like a blue-green marble
like a blue-green marble
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the way it does in this picture,
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you're seeing it because the sunlight
is reflecting off of it,
is reflecting off of it,
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and that's why you can see
the oceans, the clouds, the land.
the oceans, the clouds, the land.
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So if the sun wasn't shining on it,
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we wouldn't be able
to see the earth, right?
to see the earth, right?
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Or would we?
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This is our earth at night,
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and it is one of the most
striking examples
striking examples
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of how we have affected
our planet on a global scale.
our planet on a global scale.
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You can see light spidering out
across the globe everywhere.
across the globe everywhere.
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Now, of course, there are broad expanses
of ocean that are still dark,
of ocean that are still dark,
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and in many underdeveloped areas
there's still darkness.
there's still darkness.
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But you'll notice
that this is a pretty global effect.
that this is a pretty global effect.
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We tend to think, when we think
of places being lit up,
of places being lit up,
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of very extreme examples --
Times Square, the Vegas Strip.
Times Square, the Vegas Strip.
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But really what that picture shows you
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is that it's not just
these extreme examples,
these extreme examples,
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it's anywhere that uses outdoor lighting.
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This tends to be a really
dramatic effect on the ground.
dramatic effect on the ground.
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To understand why,
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all you really have to do
is think about the shape of a lightbulb.
is think about the shape of a lightbulb.
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The lightbulb, for all practical purposes,
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is more or less round.
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This is great for its original intended
purpose of lighting up the indoors.
purpose of lighting up the indoors.
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You turn it on, light goes everywhere.
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An individual light bulb can light up
your whole room, more or less.
your whole room, more or less.
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Now, that's great
if you're lighting the indoors,
if you're lighting the indoors,
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but in its application
in outdoor lighting,
in outdoor lighting,
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that traditional shape of the light bulb,
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the sort of globe that spreads
light everywhere,
light everywhere,
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is actually very inefficient.
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When you're outdoors,
mostly what you care about
mostly what you care about
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is lighting the ground beneath you
and your immediate surroundings.
and your immediate surroundings.
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All of that light that gets scattered
outwards and upwards
outwards and upwards
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doesn't actually help you
light the area around you.
light the area around you.
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What it does is scatters up into the sky
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and becomes what we call
"light pollution."
"light pollution."
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Even if you don't care anything
about stargazing, this should worry you,
about stargazing, this should worry you,
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because it means that 60-70% of the energy
we use to light the outdoors
we use to light the outdoors
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is wasted by blotting out the stars.
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Now, like I said,
I'm a big fan of technology.
I'm a big fan of technology.
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Obviously, I use technology
every day; I'm a scientist.
every day; I'm a scientist.
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And there's this tendency
to say that it's progress that --
to say that it's progress that --
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you know, I'm not suggesting
we're going to all go live by candlelight.
we're going to all go live by candlelight.
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Indeed, technology is allowing us
to access the sky
to access the sky
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in ways that are impossible otherwise.
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One of the greatest examples of this is,
of course, the Hubble Space Telescope.
of course, the Hubble Space Telescope.
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The Hubble went up into space,
it returns pictures daily,
it returns pictures daily,
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and it allows us to see things
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that we are incapable of seeing
with our naked eye,
with our naked eye,
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in ways that we've never been able
to do before in all of human history.
to do before in all of human history.
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Other examples of this
would be planetarium shows.
would be planetarium shows.
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In the past couple of years, planetarium
shows have become more high-tech
shows have become more high-tech
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with these great visualizations,
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and even though this isn't access
directly to the sky,
directly to the sky,
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it's at least access
to our knowledge about the sky.
to our knowledge about the sky.
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And indeed, we can experience
the sky in a planetarium
the sky in a planetarium
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in a way that is impossible for us to do
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just sitting out and looking in the dark.
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All of you have heard of the Hubble
Space Telescope and of planetariums.
Space Telescope and of planetariums.
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But there are also ways
for technology to enable participation
for technology to enable participation
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in people's experience of the sky
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that you may not be familiar with.
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These are called
"citizen science projects."
"citizen science projects."
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Citizen science is when large
research projects put their data online,
research projects put their data online,
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teach ordinary people, like you,
to go and interact with that data
to go and interact with that data
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and actually contribute to the research
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by making interesting or necessary
characterizations about it.
characterizations about it.
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One such example of this is what
I'm showing here, called "Galaxy Zoo."
I'm showing here, called "Galaxy Zoo."
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Galaxy Zoo is a project
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where people get a 20-minute --
even less than that, actually -- tutorial
even less than that, actually -- tutorial
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on how to interact
with these images of galaxies.
with these images of galaxies.
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They learn to annotate the images,
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and within a couple of minutes,
they're up and running,
they're up and running,
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and they're making really
useful categorizations
useful categorizations
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and classifications of these galaxies.
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Now, it's easy to understand
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why Galaxy Zoo would be an easy sell
for people to be involved with:
for people to be involved with:
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it involves pretty pictures;
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galaxies are, generally
speaking, pretty attractive.
speaking, pretty attractive.
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However, there are many other flavors
of citizen science projects
of citizen science projects
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that people have delved into
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that have varying levels of abstraction,
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that you wouldn't necessarily think
people would jump at.
people would jump at.
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One such example of this
is the citizen science project
is the citizen science project
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associated with the mission
that I'm part of,
that I'm part of,
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called the Kepler Mission.
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Kepler is a space telescope and it looks
for planets around other stars
for planets around other stars
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by measuring the light
from those stars very precisely.
from those stars very precisely.
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And we're looking for the dimmings
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caused by stars blocking off
some of that light.
some of that light.
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We have an associated citizen science
project called "Planet Hunters."
project called "Planet Hunters."
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Planet Hunters gives you,
like Galaxy Zoo, a short tutorial,
like Galaxy Zoo, a short tutorial,
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and within a couple of minutes,
you're up and running;
you're up and running;
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you're looking at data
from the Kepler Mission
from the Kepler Mission
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and looking for planets.
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The idea behind this
is an easy sell, right?
is an easy sell, right?
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But the actual process of planet-hunting
involves a lot of looking at graphs,
involves a lot of looking at graphs,
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like the one I'm showing you here,
and annotating them.
and annotating them.
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I do this all day and that doesn't even
sound that interesting to me.
sound that interesting to me.
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However, not only are people
interested in doing this,
interested in doing this,
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but the citizen scientists
that work with Planet Hunters
that work with Planet Hunters
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have actually found planets in the data
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that would have gone
undiscovered otherwise.
undiscovered otherwise.
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This is an author list
from the paper that they published
from the paper that they published
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of the planet they discovered.
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You'll see that all the people
who contributed are listed below,
who contributed are listed below,
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and it's sort of an odd amalgam
of people's real names
of people's real names
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and their log-in names.
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You'll notice if you look carefully,
this is the first academic acknowledgment
this is the first academic acknowledgment
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of the importance of Irish coffee
in the discovery process.
in the discovery process.
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(Laughter)
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I don't want to give you the idea
that these are some out-of-work scientists
that these are some out-of-work scientists
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or just a bunch of nerds
that are really into this.
that are really into this.
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There are 60,000 people
who participate in these projects,
who participate in these projects,
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and most of them don't have
technical backgrounds.
technical backgrounds.
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So clearly, what this is feeding into
is people's curiosity
is people's curiosity
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and their willingness to be part
of the scientific discovery process.
of the scientific discovery process.
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People want to do this.
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But all of this technology
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and all these digitally mediated ways
of experiencing the sky
of experiencing the sky
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still have something of a feel to me
like looking at an animal in a zoo.
like looking at an animal in a zoo.
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It's a valid way
of experiencing that thing --
of experiencing that thing --
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indeed, the lion in the cage
is still real,
is still real,
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the Hubble images are indeed real,
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and you can get closer to a lion in a zoo
than you can in the wild.
than you can in the wild.
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However, it's missing something.
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It's missing that savage beauty
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of experiencing that very thing
in the wild for yourself,
in the wild for yourself,
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unmediated by a screen.
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The experience of looking up
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and knowing that the sky you're looking at
surrounds every known living thing
surrounds every known living thing
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in the universe
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is very profound.
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Think about that for a moment.
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We are the only planet we know of
that has life on it.
that has life on it.
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The sky that you see is shared
by every other living thing
by every other living thing
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that we know of in existence.
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One of the things
that I really like about my work
that I really like about my work
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is that it allows me to step back
from my every day
from my every day
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and to experience the larger context,
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this feeling that just as we go out
and try to find planets in the universe
and try to find planets in the universe
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that might be like ours,
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it always reminds me
of how precious what we have here is.
of how precious what we have here is.
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Our night sky is like a natural resource,
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it's as though it's a park
that you can visit
that you can visit
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without ever having to travel there.
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But like any natural resource,
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if we don't protect it,
if we don't preserve it and treasure it,
if we don't preserve it and treasure it,
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it will slip away from us and be gone.
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So if you're interested in this,
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and this is something
you want to learn more about,
you want to learn more about,
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I encourage you in particular
to visit darksky.org
to visit darksky.org
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and to learn more
about the choices you can make
about the choices you can make
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that can protect the dark night sky,
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because it belongs to everyone,
it belongs to all of us,
it belongs to all of us,
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and therefore, it's ours
to experience as we wish.
to experience as we wish.
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And it's also ours to lose.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lucianne Walkowicz - Stellar astronomerLucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, studying starspots and "the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares."
Why you should listen
Lucianne Walkowicz is an Astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. She studies stellar magnetic activity and how stars influence a planet's suitability as a host for alien life. She is also an artist and works in a variety of media, from oil paint to sound. She got her taste for astronomy as an undergrad at Johns Hopkins, testing detectors for the Hubble Space Telescope’s new camera (installed in 2002). She also learned to love the dark stellar denizens of our galaxy, the red dwarfs, which became the topic of her PhD dissertation at University of Washington. Nowadays, she works on NASA’s Kepler mission, studying starspots and the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares to understand stellar magnetic fields. She is particularly interested in how the high energy radiation from stars influences the habitability of planets around alien suns. Lucianne is also a leader in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a new project that will scan the sky every night for 10 years to create a huge cosmic movie of our Universe.
Lucianne Walkowicz | Speaker | TED.com