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In response to some media reports and commentaries today (March 20) alleging that the Hong Kong Space Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui is the most severely light polluted place in the territory, a spokesman for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) made the following clarification:
The Hong Kong Space Museum is one of the participating organisations of the Hong Kong Night Sky Brightness Monitoring Network study undertaken by the Physics Department of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). A Sky Quality Meter has been installed at the Space Museum and two more are installed at the iObservatory and the Astropark in Sai Kung, which are both managed by the museum.
The study found that the Sky Quality Meter installed at the Hong Kong Space Museum registered a night sky brightness level in the Tsim Sha Tsui district 1 200 times brighter than the international standard for dark sky. The light pollution primarily comes from the lighting of shopping malls, as well as the large number of signboards and floodlights in the Tsim Sha Tsui district. It is a misinterpretation to say that the light pollution in Tsim Sha Tsui is caused by the Hong Kong Space Museum. In fact, the exterior of the museum uses only basic lighting fixtures with brightness maintained at a low level, and these are turned off after 10pm every day.
The LCSD supports the reduction of light pollution and is thus participating in the HKU study. However, the Hong Kong Space Museum is not a main source of the light pollution in the Tsim Sha Tsui district.
Ends/Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:41
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