The increased use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and other forms of light is drastically affecting the night sky, scientists say.

The indiscriminate use of artificial outdoor light, street lighting, advertising signs, and illuminated buildings now noticeably interferes with our stargazing.

In 2016, astronomers discovered that The Milky Way is no longer visible to a third of humanity. Since then, light pollution has worsened significantly. To such an extent that at the current exchange rate most constellations will become invisible in twenty years – Losses in cultural and scientific terms are intense, scientists say.

“The night sky is part of our environment and it would be a huge loss if the next generation never saw it – just as it would if they never saw a bird’s nest,” said Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal. Great Britain. “You don’t have to be an astronomer to be interested in this. I am not an ornithologist, but if there were no birds in my garden, I would feel poor.”

Rees is the founder of the cross-party Dark Sky group in the UK, which recently produced a report calling for a range of measures to combat light pollution.

Among the proposed measures are the appointment of a minister for dark skies, the creation of a commission and the establishment of strict standards for the density and direction of lighting.

Research by physicist Christopher Kimba of the German Center for Geosciences shows that light pollution makes the night sky brighter by 10% per year, an increase that threatens to destroy all but the brightest stars within a single generation. In a word, a newborn child, although today he is able to see 250 stars in the night sky, at the age of 18 he will see only 100.

While legally enforceable rules to control nuisance lighting and penalties for non-compliance can significantly impact this phenomenon, the problem is that light pollution is not perceived as a threat by people.

“The negative effects of light pollution are as unknown to the public as smoking was in the 80s,” says Professor Oscar Cortso from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

Source: Guardian