ActiveOutdoorsStars are disappearing from our night skyNew study reveals light pollution is growing almost 10% per year, drastically reducing how many stars we can see with the naked eyeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
ActiveOutdoorsStars are disappearing from our night skyNew study reveals light pollution is growing almost 10% per year, drastically reducing how many stars we can see with the naked eyeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
New study reveals light pollution is growing almost 10% per year, drastically reducing how many stars we can see with the naked eye
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Getty)
(Image credit: Getty)
‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.’
Oscar Wilde put some of his most memorable and oft-quoted words in the mouths of characters in his plays and prose, but just over 130 years after the debut ofLady Windermere’s Fan, Wilde’s Lord Darlington might be very disappointed with how many stars he can actually see while staring up from the gutter.
Between 2011 and 2022,the Globe at Night projectcollected data from citizen scientists around the planet, who have been recording information about the constellations they can see without the use oftelescopesorbinoculars.
Over 50,000 ‘naked-eye’ observations were gathered, and the results,published inScienceon 20 January, show a huge decline in the number of stars that are visible to people across the planet, as the level of artificially ambient light has increased.
(Image credit: Getty)
(Image credit: Getty)
The speed of the change is shocking. Analysis of the data gathered reveals that changes in visibility are the equivalent of a 9.6 per cent increase in sky brightness every single year. This means that light pollution more than doubles every 8 years.
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(Image credit: Getty)
(Image credit: Getty)
And the loss of natural nighttime visibility is more than just a tragedy and a risk for humans, with the effects of electrically produced glow having all kinds of consequences for wildlife, confusingpollinating insectsand sending birdscrashing into buildings.
It’s a reminder - if you need one, in this time of soaring energy bills and wider awareness of broader environmental issues - to turn off lights when they’re not required. You can also get involved as a citizen scientist, contributing to the data being collected. The Globe at Night are continuing to monitor the sky, and you can submit your own observations to thewebsite here.
And to get a closer look at the rapidly diminishing night sky, consider grabbing abeginners telescope, or a pair of binoculars well-suited to star gazing.
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