Lights

The Town of Mississippi Mills recognizes that the night sky is a precious natural resource that needs protection. The quality of our night skies is vastly superior to found in most areas of the province. It is a defining element of rural, small town character that is under threat and in many respects is no different than our farmland and our wetlands. It requires action in order to preserve the quality of the night sky that we enjoy.

The Town is home to the Fred Lossing Observatory located at the Mill of Kintail Conservation Area. This observatory is maintained and operated by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and was built by the scientific community with high-quality optics from the National Research Council of Canada. The high quality of the night sky available at the observatory has lead to the discovery of five comets, the most by any observatory in Canada.

Directly light upwards not only erodes the quality of our night sky, it also wastes up to 30% of the energy of the lighting product, creates glare and a traffic hazard, wastes money and creates a health hazard for all of us. Recognizing this, in 2003 the Town of Mississippi Mills passed a by-law to preserve the quality of our night sky by requiring new exterior lighting to meet a 'full cut-off' standard.

Please see our Good Neighbour Lighting Brochure for helpful suggestions and products which can ensure you do your part in protecting the quality of our night sky.

NIGHT SKY SONG Mike Ford is a Toronto singer, song writer with strong environmental conscience. He is best know for being a part of the band Moxy Fruvous and his solo project 'Canada In Song'.

Mike has very generously donated the use of his song 'Stars Shone on Toronto' to be used in the Town's promotion of night sky preservation. We encourage you to give this song a listen and discover how precious a resource we have that others never get to enjoy.

'Stars Shone on Toronto' is one of the many songs that Mike has released on his two solo CDs. If you like this one, you are sure to love the rest of his work. Please visit Mike's web site at www.mikeford.ca to purchase copies of his CDs and learn more about his existing project 'Canada In Song'.

Click here to listen