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Diane Turnshek -

Diane Turnshek

Special Lecturer

Diane Turnshek has spent her career studying astronomy and is one of the foremost experts on light pollution.


Expertise

Topics:  Dark Sky Ordinance, Light Pollution, Artificial Light, Astronomy

Industries: Education/Learning

Diane Turnshek has spent her career studying astronomy and is one of the foremost experts on light pollution, artificial light from such sources as streetlamps, residential houses, businesses, construction sites, vehicles and billboards. This excessive artificial light, or light pollution, doesn't just stop us from admiring our galaxy, but it adversely affects human health, harms plants and animals, and wastes money and energy. Turnshek was part of a team that helped draft the City of Pittsburgh's Dark Sky Ordinance for all of the city's parks, facilities and streetlights.

Media Experience

Astronomer Diane Turnshek leads the fight for Dark Skies in Pittsburgh and beyond  — NEXTpittsburgh
Diane Turnshek loves to gaze into the infinite beyond of the night sky. But it took an assignment to the remote wilderness of Utah for her to learn how much she was missing.

ABC Action News online  — ABC Action News
"Light pollution severely affects the natural environment pollinators, and bird migration, fireflies," said Diane Turnshek, a special lecturer in the Carnegie Mellon University physics department.

Did a Meteor Explode Over Pittsburgh?  — The New York Times
Diane Turnshek, an astronomer who lectures at Carnegie Mellon University, felt something powerful on Saturday morning, too. She was in her home atop a Pittsburgh hill, 1,120 feet above sea level. Her initial thought was that her dryer had fallen off the washing machine in the room next door.

What too much artificial light steals from our night skies  — PBS
Astronomer Diane Turnshek, who’s based at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said it will be the first city to follow the IDA’s newest guidelines, but it’s not the first to address light pollution on the local level. Flagstaff, Arizona, was the first city to receive official “International Dark Sky Place” designation in 2001, but it enacted the first-ever outdoor lighting ordinance back in 1958, according to the IDA.

Ever wondered about the best time for stargazing?  — The Washington Post
“Part of it is that it tends to be drier in the winter,” said Diane Turnshek, an astronomer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Education

M.S., Astronomy, University of Arizona
B.S., Astronomy, Villanova University

Accomplishments

Dark Sky Defender Award, nternational Dark-Sky Association (2015)

Affiliations

International Astronomical Union

American Astronomical Society

American Physical Society

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Links

Event Appearances

Methods and Modeling
(2023) 9th International ALAN Conference
August 8, 2024

Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions Lecture and a Panel on “Cities and Infrastructure”
(2022) IntersectCMU Conference
August 8, 2024

“Blue Sky Thinking, with Stars"
(2021) PA Conference for Young Women in Physics
August 8, 2024

“Alteration in the Experience of Dark Nights Due to Artificial Light”
(2021) Temporal Belongings Conference: The Material Life of Times
August 8, 2024

“In Conversation: The Art and History of the Night Sky"
(2021) The Frick
August 8, 2024

Articles

Multiple angle observations would benefit visible band remote sensing using night lights —  Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Photos

Videos