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    • Home
    • EVENTS
    • About Us
      • History
      • Current Leadership
    • Meeting
      • Meeting Dates
    • Membership
      • Membership or Donations
      • District Boundaries
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      • Guest Articles
    • More
      • Success Stories
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  • Home
  • EVENTS
  • About Us
    • History
    • Current Leadership
  • Meeting
    • Meeting Dates
  • Membership
    • Membership or Donations
    • District Boundaries
  • Current Issues
  • Our Precious Dark Sky
  • We Are Better Together
  • Get to know Tubac
    • Guest Articles
  • More
    • Success Stories
    • Recent Meetings
    • History
    • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
Explore our Skies

Tubac's Dark Sky

We live in a beautiful spiral galaxy, the Milky Way. Sadly, it is not visible to 80% of the population in the US. In Tubac we are fortunate we can still experience the awe of a starry sky and the splendor of the Milky Way.

Find out more

We love a dark sky!

This feature was a determining factor for Tubac to be designated an International Dark Sky Community (IDSC), among 8 in Arizona and 52 in the whole world. 

The Tubac Dark Sky Committee obtained the designation in September 2024. Since then, the committee formed the Tubac Dark Sky Association (TDSA). 

IDSC web page

Come Enjoy Tubac's Dark Sky

TDSA Steering Committee

TDSA Steering Committee

TDSA Steering Committee

 Currently, eight members are steering the TDSA as a committee of the Santa Cruz Valley Citizens Council. The SCVCC board and its membership provided strong support for our IDSC application. Now we must protect our precious dark sky for its own sake and to maintain the designation as an IDSC. Among the forms of pollution, water, air, land, noise and light, light pollution is the easiest to control. 

The stakeholders

TDSA Steering Committee

TDSA Steering Committee

  • Every single living thing in our fragile Sonoran environment.  
  • Astronomers conducting research at the F. L. Whipple Observatory and the many amateur astronomers who regularly visit our area 
  • Astro tourists, who add to economic development and expand the tourist season from fall-winter to year-round.

Whipple Observatory

TDSA Steering Committee

Whipple Observatory

F. L. Whipple Observatory astronomers conduct front-line research on exoplanets, galaxies, quasars and supernovae.

Visit Whipple link

Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor Lighting

Whipple Observatory

 The Board of Supervisors of Santa Cruz County adopted the updated Outdoor Lighting Code
(OLC) on October 15, 2024. It is a significant improvement to the 2008 code. To reach this
milestone, members of TDSA worked closely with then Community Development
Director Frank Dillon and his staff and with District 3 Supervisor Bruce Bracker.

We are ready to assist the community and furnish suggestions for good outdoor lighting solutions
that comply with the updated OLC. 

2024 OLC

Partners

Outdoor Lighting

Our Future

  We are collaborating with the Tubac Presidio and Tumacácori Parks to hold dark-sky related events. 

 DSA is an Associate of the Southern Arizona Chapter of Dark Sky
International. We share our dark sky goals and work together to achieve them.
Visit their website for more information. 

Our Future

Outdoor Lighting

Our Future

 The potential threat of uncontrolled light pollution led residents to coalesce in efforts to protect Tubac’s pristine night sky. Members of the Tubac Dark Sky Committee made sky quality measurements, inventoried outdoor public lighting, and took steps to become an International Dark Sky Community. Residents, local government, and businesses worked to enact an improved outdoor lighting code. This code and ongoing efforts of the Tubac Dark Sky Committee will minimize light pollution, protect dark skies, reduce energy consumption, and ensure that pioneering astronomical work at the Whipple Observatory continues. 

Contact the TDSA

We are here to help! Please send an email to  tubacdsa@gmail.com 

Support Us

Make a Donation


Join Us

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Dark Sky Resources

5 Principles For Responsible Lighting 


Light Pollution Fact Sheet

Files coming soon.
Hello

Our Thanks

 We thank the 27 local organizations and District 3 Supervisor Bruce Bracker. They all wrote letters of endorsement for our application for the IDSC designation.   

Letters of Endorsement
Help us make a difference!

Join the Santa Cruz Valley Citizens Council

Our nonprofit organization is committed to improving the lives of those in need through community outreach and education. Discover how you can get involved and make a positive impact today.

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Santa Cruz Valley Citizens Council

PO Box 1501, Tubac, Arizona 85646-1501

secretary@yourscvcc.org

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