As Yellowstone National Park's grand Old Faithful Inn prepares to celebrate its hundredth birthday, the night sky above the Inn is being restored closer to its splendor of a century ago. When today's visitors to the Inn look up at the stars over Old Faithful, they will now have a view similar to that enjoyed by the park's earliest visitors. Overly-bright, upward-facing outdoor light fixtures in the parking lot at the front of the Old Faithful Inn have recently been replaced with new night sky-friendly lighting that will allow for a glare-free view of the heavens. This improvement was made possible by a $ 97,500 grant from the GE Foundation (a philanthropic organization of the General Electric Company) and the donation of GE anti-glare light fixtures to the Montana-based Yellowstone Park Foundation*.

	New night sky friendly light fixture in front of the Old Faithful Inn.
The old light fixture (left) to be removed and the new fixture (right) just installed, on a moon lit night in front of the Old Faithful Inn.

Yellowstone's dark skies have immeasurable value as a natural resource-a resource that Yellowstone is committed to preserving and protecting. As with other park units, Yellowstone is looking at ways to reduce 'sky glow' (light pollution) through the use of appropriate lighting and glare-reducing measures. The funding has allowed the park to work with local area artisans to design and build original, hand-crafted, wrought iron lanterns that are compatible with the signature rustic architectural style of the Old Faithful Historic District. The lanterns, retrofitted with modern lamp optics donated by GE Lighting Systems, are designed to direct light to the ground where it is more efficient and effective. This "marriage" of history, art, and technology has been one of the more interesting aspects of this restoration project.

"Yellowstone's night skies continue to be an increasingly important resource to park visitors," noted Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis. "We are pleased that this grant has allowed us to move forward to protect this timeless resource and ensure park visitors will continue to be inspired by one of Yellowstone's many wonders-its starry skies."

* The mission of the non-profit Yellowstone Park Foundation is to fund projects that protect, preserve, and enhance Yellowstone National Park

Information provided by the NPS