Seriously, I spent a few months in the middle of nowhere, Saudi Arabia, and one of the best memories I have is going outside and just looking up at night.
Posted on 06/10/2016 12:01:21 PM PDT by C19fan
The luminous glow of light pollution prevents nearly 80 percent of people in North America from seeing the Milky Way in the night sky.
That's according to a new atlas of artificial night sky brightness that found our home galaxy is now hidden from more than one-third of humanity.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
“Light pollution”
What ordinary people think of as safety and convenience.
I had only seen it twice until I moved to Nevada, now I can see it in my backyard.
I can see the Milky Way just fine in Southeast Missouri. Growing up in Long Beach, Calif in the 50s, I never saw it.
Seriously, I spent a few months in the middle of nowhere, Saudi Arabia, and one of the best memories I have is going outside and just looking up at night.
No. Safety and convenience don’t have to create a light bubble that blocks the view of the stars for miles around. Done right you can have your house lit up like day time and not impede the view of the stars for anybody not in direct line of site. Some cities have light bubbles so bright they obscure the stars for hundreds of miles around them, that’s pollution.
When you see the nighttime satellite pics of North Korea, you get the impression that people there have fine views of the Milky Way. They may be starving and lead miserable lives but they can do lots of star gazing.
“Light Pollution Hides Milky Way” eh!? Hmmmm..... wondering how sweet pollution hides the flavor of the cake, or how green pollution of the forest hides the sky, or leftist BS pollution hides the truth.
Las Vegas. One can see the glow of Las Vegas over the horizon from a long distance away.
Astronomy buffs often arrange trips to West Texas hauling some huge telescopes with them.
Uh, according to the Census, 80% of Americans live in an urban area, so “light pollution” is called street lighting.
I will concede that ordinary human activity can cause an inconvenience for star hobbyists.
“What ordinary people think of as safety and convenience.”
But it is my right to see the mweeky way! Stop all electricity!
File that under the “Duh” category. 80% of Americans live in urban areas, right?
What ordinary people erroneously think of as safety and convenience. Light shining vertically contributes nothing to safety and convenience. Spill light shining horizontally that does not illuminate anything that needs to be illuminated is even worse, since 1) light that is nearly horizontal that passes through hundreds of miles of atmosphere before getting into space illuminates more dust particles and thus produces more skyglow than light shined vertically; and 2) horizontal light that shines directly into the eyes of passersby (e.g., motorists) produces glare that impairs their ability to see things they need to see (like pedestrians, animals and hazards).
People who are familiar with the subject matter understand that light trespass and glare reduce safety and convenience.
Ordinary people?
Frankly for we amateur astronomers, it is nothing more than morons trying to protect themselves from bad guys they assume are going to drop out of the sky on their heads.
Why else would people wastefully shine “security lights” into space?
Here is a tip: If you want safety and convenience, point the darn things towards the ground where humans tend to be, and put a shield over the top.
Living outside of Philly, I’ve always heard that cliche’ “more than the number of stars in the sky” which based on my experience I interpret as “eleven”.
Ah. Experts.
I say BS to this, it's the ambient light from cities........
The most vivid night time skies I had ever witnessed in my life was when on my regular pheasant hunting trips to N.W. Kansas and we stayed in the landowner's farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere.
Being an early riser, I'd get up at about 4:30 a.m., make coffee and go sit out in the yard smoking cigarettes and staring at the night sky..........
The owls and the distant coyotes just added to the experience........
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