Have you noticed a change in our logo? Fundación Cielos de Chile and Sochías present a campaign for Heritage Month

As part of Heritage Month, Fundación Cielos de Chile and SOCHIAS launched a campaign to raise awareness of the importance of the country’s dark skies as a scientific, cultural, and environmental heritage. As part of the initiative, various organizations temporarily removed the stars from their logos to raise awareness of the advance of light pollution and the need to protect our starry skies.

May is Heritage Month in Chile, an event that every year brings together millions of people across the country to rediscover and appreciate their cultural, natural, and scientific history. In this context, Fundación Cielos de Chile and the Chilean Astronomy Society (SOCHIAS) launched a joint campaign to highlight a unique and irreplaceable heritage: the night sky.

Why are the skies a heritage site?

Dark skies are a scientific heritage: currently, seven of the world’s 18 largest optical telescopes are installed in Chile. To make observations, these instruments need to be located in remote areas with low humidity, clear skies, and no light pollution. Chile is one of the few places on the planet where all these conditions are met. This is why the country accounts for 40% of global astronomical observation, and that figure is projected to reach 60% in the next decade.

But the importance of the night skies is not limited to science. They are also a cultural heritage, connecting society with its origins, with the peoples who preceded it, and with its future. Since ancient times, observation of the sky has guided agricultural calendars, navigation, and founding narratives. In many cultures, the stars have been an essential part of their worldview.

Likewise, the night skies represent an environmental heritage, as they are essential for biodiversity. Many nocturnal animals and insects depend on the natural light of the moon and stars to orient themselves, feed, and reproduce. Light pollution has interfered with these processes and altered their life cycles. Migratory birds, for example, are diverted from their routes by the lights of cities, causing collisions with buildings or exhaustion during flight.

Chile without stars

The initiative also proposed that institutions temporarily remove the stars from their logos as a symbolic way of raising awareness about the rapid increase in light pollution in the country.

“By removing the stars from their logos, each organization will be sending a clear and powerful message: without stars, there is no sky. And without sky, there is no science or heritage. That’s what we wanted to highlight,“ explained Daniela González, executive director of the Cielos de Chile Foundation. ”We believe that this context was ideal for reminding people that in Chile there is a museum that is only open at night: the sky. And protecting it is everyone’s responsibility,” she added.

The Cielos de Chile Foundation, the Chilean Astronomy Society (SOCHIAS), the Institute for Research in Astronomy and Planetary Sciences (INCT), the Department of Physics at the University of Santiago de Chile, the Yems Millennium Nucleus, the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Astrophysics and Space Sciences (CIRAS), and the Millennium Institute for Astrophysics.