“In order for the light to shine so brightly the darkness must be present.” -Francis Bacon
Recently, a team of international researchers has assembled the most comprehensive, up to date study on light pollution on Earth ever, including a full-Earth map of dark sky conditions or lack thereof. Its findings were disheartening but unsurprising, including the fact that 80% of Americans and 60% of Europeans cannot see the Milky Way.
The night sky from a rural (top) vs. urban (bottom) location. These are not extreme examples of pristine skies or of heavily polluted skies. Image credit: flickr user Jeremy Stanley, under a c.c.a.-2.0 generic license.
Although this may have detrimental effects to plants and animals, the largest negative may be humanity’s disconnect from the night sky, and the Universe beyond our world as a result. If you’re interested, it’s not difficult to find a dark sky location within two hours of your location, pretty much independent of where you are.
Image credit: Google Earth with Light Pollution Overlay, created by E. Siegel.
Go get the full story on our (lack of) dark skies and how to actually find them!
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1Onvvk9
“In order for the light to shine so brightly the darkness must be present.” -Francis Bacon
Recently, a team of international researchers has assembled the most comprehensive, up to date study on light pollution on Earth ever, including a full-Earth map of dark sky conditions or lack thereof. Its findings were disheartening but unsurprising, including the fact that 80% of Americans and 60% of Europeans cannot see the Milky Way.
The night sky from a rural (top) vs. urban (bottom) location. These are not extreme examples of pristine skies or of heavily polluted skies. Image credit: flickr user Jeremy Stanley, under a c.c.a.-2.0 generic license.
Although this may have detrimental effects to plants and animals, the largest negative may be humanity’s disconnect from the night sky, and the Universe beyond our world as a result. If you’re interested, it’s not difficult to find a dark sky location within two hours of your location, pretty much independent of where you are.
Image credit: Google Earth with Light Pollution Overlay, created by E. Siegel.
Go get the full story on our (lack of) dark skies and how to actually find them!
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1Onvvk9
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