Tourism resort plans may cause closure of Bosscha observatory
Tourism resort plans may cause closure of Bosscha observatory
Riva Fadillah, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Indonesia may have to close its only world-class observatory in
the near future after the Bandung administration recently allowed
a private company to develop a tourism site in conservation areas
around the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang, West Java, that has
already suffered from reckless development.
Bosscha Observatory head Moedji Raharto warned on Monday that
the policy would hamper scientific activities both in the country
and the world. Some 40,000 people, including foreign scientists,
visit the observatory each year,
The observatory, which was set up by the Dutch rulers on Jan.
1, 1923, is the closest observatory in the world to the equator.
The historical observatory has gained a reputation for enabling
the observation of the sky from the southern part of the equator.
"The lights from hotels, motels and billboards will disturb
observation of outer space," he told reporters.
The observatory could not tolerate lights, Moedji explained,
because lights obstructed a telescopes's ability to see into
space, particularly dimly lit stars located thousands of light
years away from Earth.
"Although the administration says that all lights must be
directed away from the observatory, they will still disturb the
telescope sightings," Moedji said.
For undisclosed reasons, the Bandung Administration issued
Bylaw No. 1/2003 as an addendum to bylaw No. 12/2001 allowing the
conversion of conservation forests into tourism forests on some
75 hectares of land belonging to private firm PT Baru Adjak. The
land is located several kilometers below the observatory.
The administration has annulled its earlier bylaw on city
design stipulating Lembang, located 1,300 meters above sea level
or 600 meters above the city of Bandung, as a conservation area.
Moedji also raised concerns that the development of a tourism
area would produce air pollution from the vehicles of visitors to
the site.
"Air pollution will affect astronomical calculations to
measure stars and their distance from Earth because the
pollutants will cover the telescopes," he warned, adding that
astrometric calculations needed accuracy.
Therefore, Moedji said that the observatory would not grant
the company's request to develop a tourism site.
Under the environmental law, the company must obtain approval
from the observatory before it can proceed with the construction
plan.
"We will only approve it if they develop the site by planting
rare plants. We will reject it if the company constructs
buildings," he asserted.
Pollution has reduced the ability of Bosscha's telescopes,
including the historical 60-centimeter Zeiss, to observe space
objects.
Ten years ago, the telescopes could still observe dimly lit
stars located 3,000 lights years away. However, today they can
only observe stars located 1,500 lights years away.
Environmentalists and scientists have repeatedly warned of the
environmental degradation around the Bosscha observatory as a
result of increasing illegal constructions of housing complexes
and villas.
The hill where the observatory is located has been deforested,
and many fear landslides will hit the area in the near future and
threaten the existence of the observatory.
A study from the Bandung Institute of Technology's City
Planning Laboratory revealed that from the meteorological,
ecological and geographic aspects, Lembang is supposedly the most
feasible location in Java for the observatory.
According to the study, ideally, there should be no building
located within a radius of one kilometer from the observatory
because the increasing activities of building occupants will
create light pollution, micro climatic changes, air pollution and
trembling.
However, the study said the observatory could still tolerate
20 houses -- each with limited lightings -- to be developed
within a radius of 20 kilometers.The Jakarta Post headlines on
Sept. 29, 2003