http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/Dark_Sky.mp3
Emmett County could become home to a new kind of park. Parks designated for looking at the stars are uncommon in the U.S., but the Straits of Mackinaw may have the right combination of people and darkness. The park would be a place to educate people about the stars and planets.
"The night-sky inspires us. It inspires literature. It inspires poetry. It inspired me," says Patrick Stonehouse.
Stonehouse is a Northern Michigan astronomer who discovered the Comet now called "Stonehouse" from his rooftop observatory in Wolverine. That was twelve years ago - the last time a comet has been named after a person in North America. He wants people in future generations to have the same opportunity he had.
"If I were going to search for a new comet which was perhaps magnitude 10 to 15, which is a very dim object, even in a telescope.. this is where I'd want to be to search for that comet." He says. "If I were in a light-polluted sky, I'd have no luck finding a comet that dim."
Stonehouse is part of a group of astronomers, star lovers, environmentalists and county officials researching what's needed to establish an officially designated Dark Sky Park on a scenic spot called the Mackinaw Headlands. The International Dark Sky Association, or IDA, has strict rules for its parks. There are only four in the U.S., and none in Michigan, though there is a dark sky "preserve" at the Lake Hudson Recreation Area downstate.
Petoskey resident Mary Lou Tanton is a member of the International Dark Sky Association.
"A lot of people have told me they love to come to our part of the country, our part of the state, because their children haven't seen the stars. And unless we can preserve this, that may well be the case," she says.
Each park needs a dark night sky, a planning document for preserving that darkness, and an active public engagement program. That means lighting in the area needs to be controlled with zoning rules. The large piece of land proposed for the park hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline not far from the Mackinaw Bridge. There are only three structures on the property, and Tanton says she isn't too worried about the lighting requirements.