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