Merdeka.com – Amount bintang visible to the naked eye has decreased dramatically in the last decade.
The reason is the ‘skyglow’ from artificial lights or lights, where the level of brightness of artificial light has been increasing every year since 2011 or also called light pollution.
“Our vision of the stars is disappearing,” Dr Christopher Kyba, a scientist from the German Research Center for Geosciences, told the BBC.
Kyba and colleagues published these findings in the journal Science.
This finding is based on the conclusions of 12 years of star observations conducted by expertsastronomy amateurs and scientists.
The change from the star visibility these people reported to the online project Globe at Night equates to a nearly 10 percent increase in sky brightness each year. This means that, according to scientists, a baby born in an area where 250 stars are visible is likely to see fewer than 100 stars in the same location 18 years later.
Dr Kyba said he expected to see some signs of improvement in light pollution in recent years, as many urban centers have changed their lighting to be more energy efficient.
Regions and cities, especially in developed countries, are replacing old street lamps with modern LEDS that direct the light more downwards.
“The hope is that if the lighting is more directional the situation will be better,” he explained.
“But there are so many different types of lighting – street lighting, decorative, advertising. So with all of this combined and possibly more lighting overall, (we’re) making that sky brightness worse.”
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According to a 2022 study by the European Space Agency (ESA), cheap LEDs also contribute to this problem. ESA calls it the “illumination paradox”.
“Although the LED lighting revolution promises to reduce energy consumption and improve human vision at night, overall (light pollution) is increasing. Paradoxically, the cheaper and better the lamp, the higher society’s dependence on light,” explained the ESA.
Light pollution doesn’t just reduce our view of the stars. But it also impacts human health and disrupts sleep patterns. This problem also affects animal behavior at night, one of which is a decrease in the number of insects.
“And remember that light pollution is a waste of electricity. We are continuing to dump that light energy into the atmosphere, and maybe that’s not something we should be doing,” concluded Dr Kyba. [pan]
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