The Fredericksburg Standard featured Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Ken Kattner, an astronomy enthusiast who donated equipment to help monitor light in the city’s night sky. The equipment was installed March 26 at the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Golf Course club house, the Standard reported.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“I believe this is the first community in Texas to have a monitoring device,” Kattner said. “The city will eventually host this information on a feed on its website.”
For Kattner, who built his own observatory at his home in northwest Gillespie County, it marked his fourth donation of equipment to monitor light. He also has helped install monitors at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Lost Maples State Natural Area and the South Llano River State Park.
The equipment contains a photo lens that measures readings about every 5 minutes and sends information back to monitoring stations. ...
Kattner said the next step for the city, after it has collected information for a time, will be to apply for “Dark Sky Community” status from the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). ...
Kattner also is working on revisions to the city lighting ordinance in hopes of more participation. The ordinance spells out voluntary steps, and some mandatory lighting procedures with new developments. It is all done to lessen lights shining into the sky or reflective light from large businesses.
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