St. Charles Observers With Light is an Astronomical Society. It was founded as Steve and Tammy were making plans to attend the Texas Star Party and, unlike many of the other attendees, they did not have a local astronomical society or club affiliation to list on the Texas Star Party registration form. In jest, they decided to create their own one morning while eating breakfast. A restaurant napkin brainstorm session ended with the birth of the St. Charles Observers with Light (S.C.O.W.L.). S.C.O.W.L. is based in the city of Saint Charles which is also in Saint Charles county in the state of Missouri. 

 

Scowling (verb - to express with a frowning facial expression) is something Saint Charles astronomers do a lot of as light polution, mostly from urban sprawl, has forced club members to enjoy their hobby further from home each year in the search for darker skies. There are few sites with truly dark skies that remain in the United States and those are dwindling quickly. While there are no truly dark sky sites in Missouri, there are many areas of the state that have much darker skies than St. Charles (city or county). 

 

Light Pollution is totally unnecessary. Think of it in another way -- if outdoor lighting were redesigned to appropriatley illuminate parking lots, sidewalks, highways, etc., we could save large amounts of electricity, significantly reduce our carbon emissions, save money, improve safety, improve security AND return dark skies to our urban and suburban areas! Please see our page on light pollution for more information.