In this episode of Dark Skies Conversations, Marnie Ogg is joined by Naomi Miles and Grant Salmond from the Australian Age of Dinosaurs in northern western Queensland near Winton. They discuss their passion for dark skies and how they have expanded their successful museum based on paleontology and archaeology with dinosaurs to create an iconic destination for stargazing. The episode highlights the efforts and activities at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs and encourages listeners to visit and sha...
Apr 21, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 6
In this episode, Marnie Ogg interviews Chris Tugwell, a South Australian man based in Adelaide who is a film writer, land care worker, and a Dark Sky entrepreneur. Chris shares his passion for making things happen, and how he transformed a small patch of private land on the Murray River into Australia's first Dark Sky Reserve. Through his connections with local government, tourism providers, and the general community, Chris expanded the area and made it a top tourist destination. Marnie and Chri...
Apr 19, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In this episode of Dark Sky Conversations, host Marnie Ogg interviews John Whittle, who works for the National Parks and Wildlife Service in New South Wales. John manages the Warrumbungle National Park, which is the first Dark Sky park in the southern hemisphere. With a background in forestry, John oversees a team of rangers and field officers who are responsible for managing the park's environmental aspects, improving biodiversity, managing pests and weeds, and maintaining visitor infrastructur...
Apr 18, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 4
S03E03 Johan Eklof - Author ‘The Dark Sky Manifesto’ If you’d like to buy a copy of Johan’s book as discussed in this episode, you can find it on Amazon at: Hardcover: https://amzn.to/3MMvzw7 Kindle: https://amzn.to/41p1lnm Paperback: https://amzn.to/3ojWMw0 Audiobook: https://amzn.to/41uFv1r Part 3 in our series celebrating International Dark Sky Week. In this episode of Dark Sky Conversations, host Marnie Ogg is joined by special guest Johan Eklof (in Sweden), author of The Dark Sky Manifesto....
Apr 16, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this episode as part of International Dark Sky Week, I get to chat with Professor Chris Lidman, the director of Siding Spring Observatory, where we discuss the importance of dark sky conservations. The Siding Spring Observatory was the first place in Australia to introduce Dark Sky guidelines, and there is currently an update being done to them. The conversation covers the National Optical Telescope for Australia, which is located in Coonabarabran and surrounded by The Crooked Mountains or lo...
Apr 15, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 2
S03E01 Jessica Heim – Cultural Astronomer Marnie Ogg welcomes her guest, Jessica Heim, to Dark Sky Conversations to discuss the impacts of light at night caused by satellite mega constellations, including those launched by Elon Musk and other organizations. Heim, who is a resident of Missouri and a student at the University of Southern Queensland, shares her research on the potential risks of increased space junk and clutter caused by these tens of thousands of satellites. Marnie mentions that H...
Apr 14, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Dark Sky Conversations S03E11 Louise Beer – Artist & Curator Something special with this episode…an invitation to listen to and experience the work of Louise Beer, Artist and Curator. Louise has kindly shared her original performance piece titled ‘In Memory of Darkness’. So stick around at the end of the interview, make sure your listening on headphones and immerse yourself. Louise welcomes your feedback on the experience so please visit her website to find out more about her work and leave ...
Aug 26, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Dark Sky Conversations S03E10 Ashton Dickerson Continuing on our ecology strain of the impacts of light at night on the environment. Today. My very special guest is Ashton Dickerson, who again is with University of Melbourne. Maybe there's a little bit of work happening down there with artificial light at night. And she has made the headlines. In fact, she made Catalyst, the ABC science show in Australia, where they talked about the impacts of light at night on our urban bird species, in particu...
Aug 09, 2022•39 min
Dark Sky Conversations S03E09 Shearwaters You know, when you get to talk to people who are really passionate about what they're doing? Well, that's what comes across in this interview that I did with Dr. Duncan Sutherland and Jessica McKelson at the Phillip Island Nature Park, where we talk about shearwaters and this huge migration that happens in about April, May every year. And the campaign that they ran, which was dark skies, sheer waters fly and incorporated the local community, a lot of gre...
Jun 10, 2022•47 min
Show Notes Dark Sky Conversations S03E08 Emily Fobert – Is Light Pollution Killing Clown Fish? Hi and welcome to this episode, an ecology event around the impacts of light at night featuring Dr. Emily Fobert who is a research fellow in the Fishery Science and Biosciences Department of the University of Melbourne. I've had the pleasure of meeting Emily, who did a fantastic talk live for me a couple of years ago and was one of our favorite speakers at the event. She has an interesting perception o...
May 06, 2022•44 min
S03E07 Marlin – Author and Astrotourist Michael Marlin (aka Marlin) is a Dark Sky ambassador for the International Astronomical Union and International Dark-Sky Association. He is a public speaker on the solutions to light pollution and astrotourism for tourism boards, city councils, utility companies, educational institutions and science-centers, and his TEDx talk, Embracing Darkness, can be found online. He was awarded the Presidential Service Award from Barack Obama and is currently working o...
Feb 19, 2022•44 min
Dark Sky Conversations S03E06 Jackson Stigwood – Lighting Designer Jackson Stigwood BDes, MArch, Tech IES, Assoc. IALD Jackson is the founding director of A Billion Suns. He moved into lighting architecture and design in 2008, working on a range of projects in Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He takes a keen interest in conducting lighting research at both macro and micro scales in the built and urban environment. The practice uses this research to understand key issues that need to ...
Feb 11, 2022•46 min
Dark Sky Conversations S03E05 Professor Clive Ruggles Join Professor Clive Ruggles as a special guest from this recent Dark Sky Aus webinar as he discusses latest research in a subject that’s close to his heart and in which he’s a world authority, Archaeoastronomy. Archaeoastronomy (also spelled archeoastronomy) is the interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role the sky played in the...
Feb 10, 2022•1 hr 29 min
Dark Sky Conversations with Marnie Ogg S02E04 Dr. John Barentine I think John’s twitter bio says it all: Astronomer. Historian. Arizona native. Proud LGBT American. Retiring to asteroid 14505. Questioning everything; occasionally getting in trouble for it. You’ll find John on Twitter @JohnBarentine or his website https://www.darkskyconsulting.com/ Dark Sky Conversations Website: https://www.darkskytraveller.com.au/podcast and https://www.bitesz.com/show/dark-sky-conversations/ Email Marnie at po...
Nov 23, 2021•56 min
Dark Sky Conversations with Marnie Ogg S02E03 Satellite Hunting | March 2021 How to use this podcast: 1.Plug your headphones in 2.Make sure it is a clear night…if so…head outside to a quiet spot with a clear view of the night sky. 3.Look up 4.Hit play and let Marnie show you how to find satellites in the night sky.. 5.Enjoy! Dark Sky Conversations Website: https://www.darkskytraveller.com.au /podcast and www.bitesz.com /darkskyconversations Email Marnie at podcast@darkskytraveller.com.au Subscri...
Mar 17, 2021•11 min
Dark Sky Conversations with Marnie Ogg S02E02 Your Night Sky Guide | February 2021 How to use this podcast: 1. Plug your headphones in 2. Make sure it is a clear night…if so…head outside to a quiet spot with a clear view of the night sky. 3. Look up 4. Hit play and let Marnie guide you through what you are seeing. 5. Enjoy! Dark Sky Conversations Website: https://www.darkskytraveller.com.au/podcast and www.bitesz.com/darkskyconversations Email Marnie at podcast@darkskytraveller.com.au Subscribe,...
Feb 16, 2021•8 min
Dark Sky Conversations with Marnie Ogg S02E01 Your Night Sky Guide | January 2021 How to use this podcast: 1. Plug your headphones in 2. Make sure it’s a clear night…if so…head outside to a quiet spot with a clear view of the night sky. 3. Look up 4. Hit play and let Marnie guide you through what you’re seeing. 5. Enjoy! Dark Sky Conversations Website: https://www.darkskytraveller.com.au/podcast and www.bitesz.com/darkskyconversations Email Marnie at podcast@darkskytraveller.com.au Subscribe, ra...
Jan 26, 2021•10 min
My guest today, Ada Blair - a counsellor and psychotherapist at the University of Edinburgh. Author of ‘An Exploration of the Role that the Night Sky Plays in the lives of the Dark Sky Island Community of Sark’, her research, conducted on Sark in 2014, addresses the 'missing sky' factor within ecopsychology and health and environmental psychology. Intuitive inquiry is employed to explore the following themes: human desire to see the night sky, commercialisation of this desire through astronomica...
Oct 07, 2020•49 min
My guest today, Anthony Teckatch - developer and co-owner of the Unihedron Sky Quality Meter system. The "Sky Quality Meter" measures the brightness of the night sky in magnitudes per square arcsecond. Designed by two friends, Dr Doug Welch and Anthony Tekatch, the Unihedron Sky Quality Meter handheld meter. enables scientists, researchers and night sky lovers to monitor sky brightness through the night, night-to-night, and year-to-year. Join Anthony as he shares the journey of the device, and s...
Sep 22, 2020•42 min
My guest today, professor Tim Hunter, owner of the Grasslands Observatory in Tucson Arizona and co-founder of the International Dark Sky Association The Grasslands Observatory was started in 1985 when Tim Hunter purchased 20 acres of land at a remote location in Southeastern Arizona approximately an hour's drive from Tucson. The site has no horizon obstructions in any direction and sits on a large grassy plateau surrounded by distant mountains. It is at 5000 feet elevation, and there is only min...
Jun 10, 2020•40 min
The circadian rhythm controls many aspects of our lives, hormone release, hunger, and sleep. Before the invention of the light globe, this important mechanism was set and reset it by the rise and fall of the sun. My guest today, professor Sean Cain, Associate Professor of Psychology at Monash University, suggests humans may be even more sensitive to light than we already acknowledge. His laboratory work focuses on individual sensitivities to light and how these insights may help us understand th...
May 07, 2020•41 min
Dark Sky Conversations with Marnie Ogg S01E11 - Ancient Egyptian Night Skies Brenan Dew PhD Candidate Each year the Macquarie Theban Tombs Project undertakes six weeks of Archaeological fieldwork, excavating and systematically recording private tombs at Dra Abu el-Naga, on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor, Egypt. As a guide at Sydney Observatory, he has shared the southern night skies with hundreds of guests. Join Brenan, as he describes the ways his love of archaeology and astronomy cross ove...
Apr 21, 2020•38 min
Join Marnie as she chats with Dan O’Donoghue (magician and storyteller extraordinaire) and Georgia MacMillan (Dark Sky Ranger)...two of the guides behind Terra Firma - Hiking, Stargazing & Cultural Tours of Ireland For more on Dan & Georgia and Terra Firma : https://www.terrafirmaireland.com/guides For more on the Mayo Dark Sky Park: http://www.mayodarkskypark.ie Marnie Ogg is talking to some of the brightest minds in their field, about the topic of light pollution and ways to protect ou...
Apr 16, 2020•38 min
S01E09 - Experiencing Norway’s Polar Nights Join Marnie as she chats with Sofia and Kellie...two travelers who experience Norway’s Polar Nights first hand. Just what was it like? What were the takeaways...the lasting memories? Marnie Ogg is talking to some of the brightest minds in their field, about the topic of light pollution and ways to protect our night skies. Websites: https://www.darkskytraveller.com.au/podcast and www.bitesz.com/darkskyconversations Subscribe, rate and review at Apple Po...
Mar 23, 2020•41 min
Clive Ruggles is Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, UK. He has worked in many parts of the world and published numerous books, papers and articles including the 3-volume Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy (2014), for which he was editor-in-chief. He has ongoing fieldwork and analysis projects in Hawai‘i, Peru and Europe and is a leading figure in the joint initiative by the UNESCO World Heritage Cen...
Mar 18, 2020•37 min
Dr Kellie Pendoley – Monitoring turtle habitats and the effects of light pollution Marnie Ogg is talking to some of the brightest minds in the field about the topic of light pollution and ways to protect our night skies. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy
Mar 03, 2020•30 min
Nathan Wilson-Rynell – Lighting Industry Director educating good lighting Principles Marnie Ogg talks with some of the brightest minds in the field about light pollution and ways to protect our night skies. This episode her guest is Nathan Wilson-Rynell...Lighting Industry Director educating good lighting Principles. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy
Jan 10, 2020•40 min
Marnie Ogg talks with some of the brightest minds in the field about light pollution and ways to protect our night skies. This episode her guest is Dr Stephen Mason...ann expert in eye-friendly lit environments. Website: https://www.darkskytraveller.com.au/podcast and www.bitesz.com /darkskyconversations Subscribe, rate and review at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or all good podcast apps. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy...
Jan 03, 2020•39 min
Marnie Ogg talks with some of the brightest minds in the field about light pollution and ways to protect our night skies. In this episode her guest is Dr Ken Wishaw...medic and night sky enthusiast. Website: https://www.darkskytraveller.com.au/podcast and www.bitesz.com /darkskyconversations Subscribe, rate and review at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or all good podcast apps. #astronomy #science #light #lightpollution #darkskies #darksky For information regarding your data privacy, vi...
Jan 02, 2020•34 min
Dark Sky Conversations with Marnie Ogg S01E03 Dr David Malin – the man who coloured the stars Marnie Ogg talks with some of the brightest minds in the field about light pollution and ways to protect our night skies. In this episode her guest is Dr David Malin...the man who coloured the stars. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy
Jan 02, 2020•40 min
