Seminar
A tool for restoring the starry sky at Teide Observatory

Increasing light pollution is a threat to the research capacity of astronomical observatories. The case of the Teide observatory is not an exception, despite the OPTC's sustained protection efforts. We now have powerful modeling tools to theoretically test the impact of a change of lighting devices on the quality of the starry sky. During this project, we will use the Illumina numerical model to create the first decision-making tool aimed at maximizing the restoration of research capacity of an observatory. This innovative tool will actually be used for the restoration of the night sky at the Teide observatory. It will take the form of an excel page, that make it possible to independently modify the conversion plans for each municipality of the island of Tenerife and to determine the related reduction of the sky brightness. It will therefore be possible to target the most effective actions to restore the quality of the night sky at the observatory. The tool will use many pre-executions of the Illumina model. In situ measurements will be also carried out to characterize the current lighting infrastructure, a crutial input to the model.