DISCOVERIES
LIGHT POLLUTION
PRIMER
Brightly illuminated urban areas are increasingly obscuring our view of the night sky, making life difficult for us, astronomers and animals
The brightness of the night sky has been increasing by 7 to 10 per cent a year for the last decade, according to a study carried out by the Globe at Night project. This citizen-science campaign involved more than 50,000 observations from volunteers around the world.
The problem, according to the report, is ‘skyglow’ – artificial light that keeps the sky in twilight until long after the Sun has set.
We spoke to Dr Greg Brown, an astronomer based at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, about what this trend means for laypeople, astronomers and the natural world, and if there’s anything we can do to reverse it.
HOW BAD IS THE LIGHT POLLUTION SITUATION? ARE WE LOOKING AT A POTENTIAL SCENARIO WHERE FUTURE GENERATIONS WON’T BE ABLE TO ENJOY LOOKING AT THE STARS?
It’s a great shame that a lot of people are denied a view of the night sky. In the planetarium that we run at the Royal Observatory, we often start our shows with an estimate of the current light pollution around London. Even in our relatively dark site in the middle of Greenwich Park, we still have to deal with Canary Wharf and the main parts of the city around us.