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dani_darkskies on Instagram: "How many stars can you see from your front door step?Chances are, it’s much fewer than 100.98% of people in the UK live under light…"
How many stars can you see from your front door step?Chances are, it’s much fewer than 100.98% of people in the UK live under light polluted skies. If we look globally, that figure goes up to 80%. A whole THIRD of the human population can no longer see the Milky Way. I think that is absolutely criminal. Every year, the night sky is increasing in brightness by nearly 10%. A recent study (Kyba, 2023) found that if a child is born today in a place where 250 stars are visible, by their 18th birthday they will only be able to see 100 stars. Many places on Earth have already lost all their stars, with major cities struggling to see even the brightest stars in constellations such as Orion’s Belt. The night sky is part of our natural environment. Generations of us have now been denied what should be a free and accessible part of our human existence. Being able to gaze upwards and see the glittering of thousands of stars and the epic glowing core of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, had been a central part of our lives as a species until the advent of the electric light, a mere hundred years ago. It wasn’t until the 1970’s, just 50 years ago, that astronomers first started to raise the alarm about light pollution and how it was impacting our ability to see into space. In that short span of time we have covered our blue planet in a sickly, yellow glow.In 1988, the Dark-Sky Association was founded, working to raise awareness about the loss of the night and to find solutions. That Association is now Dark Sky International, a globally recognised authority on stopping light pollution and protecting what little darkness we have left with our network of Dark Sky Places. You can support their work and find out more over at @darksky_intl including the upcoming ‘Under One Sky Conference’ in November. We can act on light pollution and save our skies. Will you join us on the dark side? 🌌#lightpollution #darkness #darkskies #ALAN #astronomy
