21LightBox
SPACE
Finding a dark-sky
paradise on a tiny
Vermont hill
By Jefrey Kluger
Photographs by Robert Ormerod for TIME
NEARLY EVERY SPOT ON EARTH IS, EFFECTIVELY,
a planetarium. Wait for the sun to go down, hope for
a cloudless sky and look up. The show’s been running
every night for 4.5 billion years now.
But for the best stargazing, some places are better
than others. There’s the great observatory atop
Mauna Kea in Hawaii, 13,796 ft. above sea level; there’s
the University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory in Chile,
at 18,500 ft. And then there’s Stellafane, a cluster of
permanent telescope observatories near a bubble-gum
pink clubhouse on Breezy Hill in Springield, Vt.
At just shy of 1,300 ft., Stellafane can’t compete
with high-altitude spots—but it has charm to burn,
as was evidenced Aug. 9 to 12, when stargazers from
around the world converged for the annual Stellafane
Convention, many with their own telescopes.
Edinburgh-based photographer Robert Ormerod
was among those who made the trip. The images he
captured reveal why the party has been going on for
close to a century.
It was on Aug. 17, 1920, when a group of 15 men and
one woman gathered in a Springield basement to learn
how to grind telescope mirrors, a skill taught by Arctic
explorer and lay astronomer Russell W. Porter. In 1923,
the group established itself as Springield Telescope
Makers Inc. That same year, the clubhouse was built,
and Porter dubbed it Stellar-fane, Latin for “Shrine to
the stars.” Later, it was condensed to Stellafane.
Ever since, the club and community have worked
to protect Breezy Hill’s astronomical appeal. Mostly,
that means keeping it as free as possible from light
pollution, which can spoil the show. When a new
prison was approved for construction in the town in
1999, Stellafane, along with the International Dark-Sky
Association, successfully lobbied the state and prison
designers to minimize light spill. Dark-sky policies
apply to visitors too. You can forget about campires,
and after the evening talks on Fridays and Saturdays,
car headlights are permitted for only half an hour.
But as Ormerod’s pictures attest, it’s all worth it.
The vast majority of us will never visit space, and
the few of us who have ventured beyond Earth’s
atmosphere have never gone more than a quarter-
million miles away. The whole of the universe—billions
of light-years wide—lies beyond. It’s our great fortune
that the stars and planets and moons and nebulae send
their otherworldly light to us. There are uncounted
places on the planet to stand and appreciate that
beauty. Few are better than atop Breezy Hill. □
The sky, left, during Stellafane’s star
party. According to a 2016 study,
80% of the world’s population lives
in places where light pollution spoils
the nighttime view of the heavens.
The International Dark-Sky
Association is establishing protected
areas called “dark sky reserves” to
combat that.Above, Zane Landers, 15, from
Connecticut, with one of his
homemade telescopes. Many
visitors to Stellafane bring their
own instruments. Others grab a
look when they can through one of
the permanent telescopes on-site.
Still others rely on binoculars or the
naked eye.