Mauro Tirannosauro has been working since the Cretaceous on the issues of light (as in lightness) pollution and artificial light (as in lightness) at night issues.

With such a background, it was inevitable that after he joined the Participatory Lithology team in March, and found out that the same guys had been working on similar topics since 2008 with the twice-award-winning BuioMetria Partecipativa (participatory night sky quality monitoring) project, he would be sharing his insight and expertise on this matter.

First of all, in April, Mauro gave a short talk at the University of Brescia, concerning the possibility of seeing the Milky Way by Day. This was in the context of a course on “Participatory Methods for the Design of Interdisciplinary Activities for the Protection and Promotion of the Night Sky”. In the following weeks Mauro has been reviewing extensively the work of various instutions across the globe, and verifying if/how/to what extent they related to his understanding of the story.

Yesterday Mauro managed to kick Andrea Giacomelli out of his seat attending the online edition of the 2020 Artificial Light at Night conference (see for example our report on the 2016 edition), one of the two reference international gatherings related to light (as in photons) pollution, the other being the LPTTM conference.

Following an interesting presentation by John Barentine on the possibility of applying to night skies the “Rights of Nature” paradigm, Mauro contributed to the proceedings suggesting that he, as the king of all dinosaurs, is “by nature” a representative of Nature, and will be glad to provide his services as a liaison between Nature, the Dark Sky community, light (as in lightness) designers, utility companies, electricity suppliers, etc.

Such statements do not come out of the blue [light]. In this respect, since the begging of the year Mauro T is also at work with a team of experts in order to draft a position paper for the Jurassic Commission, concerning the urge for a Directive on Light (as in lightness) pollution. Mauro will be glad to share this with anybody interested to contribute in the context of an inclusive and managed process (see also two of his beer-reviewed articles related to this activity: one and two).

Eventually Mauro T. also joined a couple of the breakout rooms. While Jack O’Malley presented Mauro’s activities since March (see partial photo blog in English and a more extensive version in Italian), Mauro went on the rampage, bringing a comet to the audience (as seen in the header image…photo credits Luciano Massetti), and singing along one of his favourite songs

Breakout Room Blues

Keep your eyes to the ground, and your hands up to the sky
Keep your eyes to the ground, and your hands up to the sky

We’re going down to EALAN, we’re gonna have a real good time

In the back of EALAN they’ve got a breakout room
In the back of EALAN they’ve got a breakout room

And that’s for the people who think that light is doom

What’s your role, baby role , What’s your role, baby role…what’s you’re rooooole…
all [astronomical] night long.

Starting from June 21 Mauro T. will be on a conce[r|p]t tour with the Jug Band Colline Metallifere, and surely light (as in lightness) will not miss from the show, mixed with light (as in photons) outreach and community engagement.

You can find the outline of his events on the JBCM Calendar. Due to COVID-19 mobility restrictions, the core of the tour will actually take place in one of Italy’s fairly dark (a lot of 21 mag/arcsec2) areas. This is in Southern Tuscany, where the JBCM team is based. But…here is some good news: if you just learned about Mauro T and are enticed by his proposal, there are still some slots which are flexible, and Mauro is not shy of travelling (with the Sonics in his mind). If you think Mauro Tirannosauro, and his backing band, can contribute to your work, for more information and booking: maurotrex@pibinko.org or whatsapp +393317539228.