About 80 percent of the world's population does not see stars in the night sky

Maybe the stars shine brighter at night, however, ifbelieve the latest research, for about 80 percent of the world's population, this statement is not entirely true. And blame for this is one of the greatest inventions of mankind - electricity. The fact is that thanks to the widespread use of electricity, we managed to block starlight for most of the world's population.

According to a new compiled atlas of brightnessthe night sky, the light of our galaxy does not see 60 percent of the population of European countries and almost 80 percent of the inhabitants of North America. The light of our artificial lamps is so bright that it interrupts the natural illumination of the Milky Way (we are talking about the light of stars, of course) in the night sky of Singapore, Kuwait and Malta, making it completely invisible.

Calling this state of affairs “cultural lossof unprecedented scale, ”the lead author of the study, Fabio Falchi of the Italian Institute of Technology and the Study of Light Pollution, notes the enormous negative impact of light pollution today.

"Modern lighting has made it impossible for 77 percent of the UK population to watch the night Milky Way, while in China the situation looks even sadder."

“Humanity has covered our planet with a fog of light, which deprives the majority of the Earth’s population of the opportunity to admire our galaxy,” the researchers write in their work.

Scientists have collected their data for the studythanks to the American meteorological satellite Suomi NPP. After that, the data were combined with information that was obtained in the framework of computer modeling of the brightness of the sky, as well as data from field studies collected by both professionals and amateur enthusiasts. As a result, the study showed that more than 99 percent of the territories of the USA and Europe experience the so-called light pollution. Only a few European countries and the island of Corsica, for example, as well as the central regions of Spain, can proudly speak of a "light-polluted environment."

“This is truly the largest study.world light pollution today, ”said Cheryl Ann Bishop, director of public relations for the International Dark-Sky Association, which deals with light pollution.

“We actually wrapped our planet in an artificiallighting that blocks the natural light of night space. The phenomenon, it should be noted, is relatively new, but it makes us think about the consequences that it carries with it. "