Making world news now: Dark skies are vital if astronomers are to pick out stars and other celestial objects in space. Mining firm, Santos, plans to tap the area, known as the Gunnedah Basin, for gas sourced in coal seams. Astronomers are also worried that material dispersed from CBM mining operations will prove corrosive to telescope lenses. Peter Small, a technical support engineer for Siding Spring, said an existing CBM operation at Boggabri already gives off more light than the neighbouring towns of Narrabri and Gunnedah. “We get light pollution from that – we even get light pollution from Sydney, which is 400km away, so you don’t have to be that close,” he said. “This will reduce visibility. If there’s light pollution from anywhere, never mind about the gasfields, this site becomes unviable. It would shut down and all those local jobs would be lost,” he added. “I’d hope there would be a compromise, but no dialogue has taken place with Santos as yet.” Read more: worldcoal/cbm/07012015/CBM-flares-could-force-Australian-observatory-to-close-CBM182/
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:50:04 +0000
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