The Milky Way – Our Galaxy

“If our terrestrial connections are made stronger through the extra-terrestrial, then the Night Sky has the Potential to be an expansive and unmatched looking glass. Our Obsession with artificial light risks extinguishing the galaxy from our lived experience and the loss of a kinship as old as the universe itself.”1

What is Light Pollution?

   It is the human-made alteration of outdoor light levels from those occurring naturally. The effects of light pollution disrupt wildlife, impact human health, waste money and energy, and block our view of the universe. Baby sea turtles use this light to move towards the sea right after hatching. Unfortunately, light pollution makes the land glow stronger than the sea causing the baby turtles to get confused and walk in the opposite direction. Light pollution annoys astronomers, but also other creatures of the night like baby sea turtles, moths and fireflies.2

   Every year the amount of artificial lighting steadily increases on Earth. Although it’s cause to celebrate in remote villages in Africa and the Indian sub-continent that gain access to electricity for the first time, it also harms the health and well-being of residents of megacities elsewhere that continue to get bigger and brighter every year. Health impacts of artificial illumination after daylight hours range from depression to cancer, including a range of sleep disorders. Eighty percent of people on Earth have lost their view of the natural night sky due to the glow of artificial lights.

   Cities with large populations contribute to light pollution, but in many areas lighting is geographically or culturally influenced. In northern latitudes where the Sun shines less or in arid countries where hot daytime temperatures inspire more evening activity, urban centers are often brightly lit and can outshine the usual light-pollution suspects like New York City or Tokyo.3
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What can be done about Light Pollution?

The International Dark-Sky Association advocates:

Follow responsible lighting practices, like installing outdoor light fixtures with shields that prevent light from passing skyward.

Encourage more scientific research in this field.

Pass dark-sky legislation to reduce light pollution and meet dark-sky community standards, as communities in Idaho (and in many other places in the world), have done.4
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   For example, when the Northridge earthquake shook Los Angeles in 1994, large swathes of the metropolitan area were left without power and lights. Matt Benjamin saw a 'strange, silvery cloud' appear in the darkened sky. Because of his family's travels to Idaho, he knew that what he was seeing on that January morning was the Milky Way Galaxy.
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   Now an astrophysicist in Colorado, Benjamin returned to Idaho to testify on behalf of the Milky Way and the dark skies necessary to see it. The Idaho Conservation League sought designation for a dark-sky preserve centered on the area around Ketchum and Sun Valley. Three designated wilderness areas buffer the resort valley. Boise is 240 kilometers away. There's darkness already. But Benjamin, in his testimony before the Blaine County commissioners, called for stiffening efforts to tamp down the lights so that the Milky Way can continue to be seen.
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   Los Angeles isn't alone in blotting out the Milky Way. A team of scientists reporting in a June 2016 issue of Science Advances found that the Milky Way is not visible to more than one-third of humanity. This includes 60% of Europeans and nearly 80% of North Americans. Even when they can detect the Milky Way in the sky overhead, ninety-nine percent of the US and European populations live under light-polluted skies. Even in the American West, the Milky Way can be hard to find in the night sky. What Benjamin calls the light footprint from cities can extend 160 to 240 kilometers in every direction...

   In Idaho, the proposal being pushed by the Idaho Conservation League would yield the creation of a dark-sky reserve, the first in the US and 12th in the world designated by the International Dark-Sky Association. The Association has specified minimum criteria for sky quality and natural darkness: 80% of outdoor lighting must be shielded within 5 years to prevent it from going into the sky. Within a decade, it must hit 100%.5

   Finally, refresh your relationship with the Milky Way and visit a dark-sky designated location.

   Thanks to its brightness, the center of the Milky Way is relatively easy to observe. From the northern hemisphere, it is best seen during the summer when looking south. When you are in truly dark places, you can see galaxies with the naked eye. To find places with clear night skies, you need to go where the population density is low. For that reason, deserts tend to be good places to admire starry nights. When you lie down and look up in a place with no trees or other high objects, your visual field only contains stars. It's very easy to imagine you are just floating in space or on the surface of the Moon.6

Celebrate International Dark Sky Week April 2 – 8, 2024...Find a dark sky space, lie on your back and look up at the stars...

1 Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations Ed. by Gavin van Horn, Robin Wall Kimmerer, John Hausdoeffer, p. 28
2 The last places on Earth to see truly dark starry nights, 24 November 2023 05:00 PST By Jordi Busqué
3 https://therevelator.org/cities-ranked-light-pollution Big Cities, Bright Lights: Ranking the Worst Light Pollution on Earth
June 21, 2018 by Dipika Kadaba
4 darksky.org
5 What it takes to be a dark-sky reserve, Pique Magazine (Whistler, B.C.) 23 November 2016 by Allen Best
6 The last places on Earth to see truly dark starry nights, 24 November 2023, 05:00 PST By Jordi Busqué