The night sky over Desengano State Park — the first official Dark Sky Park in Latin America .
COURTESY OF Samir Mansur artificial lighting interference in the entire northwesthern region of the State of Rio de Janeiro . On the image on the previous page , the red circle is the area from Desengano State Park . The red point inside de circle is the Morumbeca sector , where lighting measurements were carried out . The black arrow points to Santa Maria Madalena . Quarterly measurements will be made to monitor the quality of the dark sky . Inside the limits of the Desengano State Park , there is no building with electricity , so there is no type of equipment that produces any source of artificial lighting . The only options for artificial light are those from alternative and temporary sources , such as lanterns or candles . Even though the head office is 13km away from the area designated to the Dark Sky activities , it was decided to carry out a lighting inventory of the head office installations . The site is the focal point for visiting the park , as it is where the visitor ’ s center is located . The place is visited by hundreds of tourists monthly . There , also , is where the activities related to the Dark Sky Park , of the Environmental Education Program , will be concentrated . There is no law or regulation that imposes restrictions or regulations on the use of outdoors artificial lighting in Protected Areas or in any natural spaces in Brazil . Now the Desengano State Park has a Lightscape Management Plan main goal to provide regulations and guidance for future outdoor lighting projects in the landscape area inside the limits of Desengano State Park . A natural dark sky is considered of great importance for the conservation of ecological interactions , so its protection is a priority . In the Desengano State Park area there is no artificial light that compromises the quality of the night environment and landscape . It is worth mentioning that the whole park is a natural zone of darkness / without lighting . No permanent or removable external lighting is allowed inside the park , except for some specific cases like , for example , an emergency / search and rescue situation , as well as in
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