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The loss of dark skies is so painful, astronomers coined a new term for it (www.space.com)

submitted 1 year ago by FlyingSquid to c/technology

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Given the harmful effects of light pollution, a pair of astronomers has coined a new term to help focus efforts to combat it. Their term, as reported in a brief paper in the preprint database arXiv and a letter to the journal Science, is "noctalgia." In general, it means "sky grief," and it captures the collective pain we are experiencing as we continue to lose access to the night sky.

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[–] 2Xtreme21 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I live in that gigantic red and purple blob in Northern Europe and I’m lucky if I can see 3 stars in the sky at night.

I’ve never ever seen a totally star-filled sky and it’s something I’m very sad about. One day I’ll head out to somewhere like the Australian Outback and just gaze up in awe.

[–] XeroxCool 8 points 1 year ago

The irony is that most of us live in a red/purple blob. A light pollution map pretty accurately matches population heat maps. The only outlier tends to be some resource mines, especially petroleum/gas fields with constant waste fires

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Come to the UK. We've got official Dark Skies status in Bannau Brecheiniog (formerly the Brecon Beacons). Probably a lot easier for you to get to :)

[–] Aielman15 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I live in Italy. The map doesn't show a single spot below yellow in my entire country.

I've never seen a clear sky in my life.

[–] XeroxCool 1 points 1 year ago

As someone living in a purple/white zone, the red zone really is magnificent by comparison. It's clear enough when avoiding street lights that when I step out of the car, despite the dash and headlights affecting my adaptation, I immediately see the Milky way. Yellow is a step clearer, so don't be discouraged