SEEING stars is getting harder. A third of us can鈥檛 see the Milky Way at night, according to a new map of light pollution across the globe.
Around 80 per cent of the world鈥檚 population lives under skies obscured to some degree by human-made light. Singapore never experiences true night conditions 鈥� artificial twilight masks the darkness. Chad, the Central African Republic and Madagascar have the lowest levels of light pollution, with three-quarters of their populations enjoying pristine night skies.
The Milky Way, visible in darkness as a dim glow streaking across the sky, is hidden for 60 per cent of Europeans and 80 per cent of North Americans.
Advertisement
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big part of our connection to the cosmos 鈥� and it鈥檚 been lost,鈥� says study author Chris Elvidge of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who built the map using satellite images, computer models and citizen-science measurements from the ground (Science Advances, ).
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淢ilky where?鈥�
