Country Sky versus City Sky
Explanation:
Dark skies are disappearing
from the world.
With modernization comes artificial
lighting that brightens the night.
While these lights allow
modern humans to see, much light is wasted
up into the sky.
This light pollution
not only wastes
energy, but, when reflected by the Earth's atmosphere back down, creates a nighttime
brightness that
disrupts wildlife
and harms human
health, while doing very little to
prevent
crime.
Light pollution is also making a dark night sky a
scarcity
for new generations.
While there is little that can be done in large cities, rural country areas could
benefit from
lighting that is fully shielded from exposing the
night sky where it is not needed.
The featured panorama contains 6 adjacent
vertical segments taken from different locations across
Slovakia -- but with the same
equipment and at the same time of night, and then subjected to the same
digital post-processing.
Although no stars are visible on the left-most city sky, the right-most country sky
is
magnificently dark.
You can help protect the wonders of your night sky by favoring, when possible, dark sky friendly lightning.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
