https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2624

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the night sky (Section 1);

wildlife and ecology (Section 2);

human health (Section 3);

public safety (Section 4);

energy security and climate change (Section 5);

and social justice (Section 6).

It also includes a discussion of the emerging threat from light pollution caused by objects orbiting the Earth (Section 7).

Finally, it concludes with a discussion of the knowledge gaps that exist within these topics and the research questions whose answers can fill the gaps (Section 8).

It is intended be useful to those seeking to broaden their understanding of research on the causes and consequences of artificial light at night.

Source:

https://www.darksky.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SOTS-post-final-version-220527.pdf

https://www.darksky.org/artificial-light-at-night-state-of-the-science-2022-report/

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Who owns the night sky? https://www.darksky.org/who-owns-the-night-sky/

Megan Eaves https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZELe7WT3m8sGG4-svrlRXdAPwfdy4lPx/view

Excerpt:

satcon2 community engagement working group:

“The sky belongs to everyone.

Space is a global commons.

All people are impacted by changes in the sky.

The sky is part of the environment.

Ecosystems depend on the night sky and on each other.”

Read more at the links above.

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The IAU, together with partner organisations, has submitted a new Working Paper to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), seeking to protect dark and quiet skies from interference by human activities. The paper was accepted for discussion at the opening of the 59th session of the COPUOS Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) — the first time that the issue of dark and quiet skies has been tabled as a formal agenda item by the UN. Co-signed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), the paper has been endorsed by Austria, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Slovakia and Spain. One of the main outcomes of this work is that UN COPUOS have decided to keep dark and quiet skies on the agenda for the 2023 STSC meeting.

As well as being a natural source of wonder, the pristine night sky has long been a stimulus to scientific exploration and discovery, and an invaluable aspect of humanity’s shared cultural heritage. As the prevalence of artificial light has increased, however, the visibility of the night sky has been greatly reduced around the world. And in the past few years, an even bigger threat has emerged as large constellations of satellites have been launched into low Earth orbit, in much greater numbers than ever before.

Although these satellites are important, for instance to provide Internet access to underserved regions, they have a number of detrimental effects on astronomy, owing to their brightness in the sky, their combined radio emissions and the sheer number of them. There could be up to 100 000 such satellites in orbit by the 2030s, meaning that at any point in time more than 5000 might be detectable above a typical mid-latitude observatory. In addition to disrupting visible-light observations, their radio emissions will be enough to contaminate the measurements of highly sensitive radio telescopes.

Source: https://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann22010/

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In his 1965 book, Starlight Nights, amateur astronomer and renowned comet finder Leslie Peltier recalled looking down at Los Angeles from Mount Wilson Observatory and noting the city lights encroaching on the mountainside. He was also concerned about the reflection of sunlight off growing fields of space debris. He wrote, “I realize that I have been witness to mankind’s latest pollution in the name of progress—the contamination of the skies.”

Today humanity’s ability to enjoy the night sky is increasingly threatened. Sky glow, which is caused by artificial lighting that is directed upward or reflected and scattered by aerosols in the atmosphere, is altering ambient light levels and obscuring once-visible astronomical objects. In 2016 computations with light propagation software showed that more than 80% of the world population, including 99% of people in the US and Europe, lives under light-polluted skies, where anthropogenic sources alter natural light levels. Less than two-thirds of the world’s population can see the Milky Way in the night sky.

Read more at: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.2.20220209b/full/

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Describes the scientific and cultural value of the sky

Illustrates the environmental damage of excess light

Explains the relationship between astronomy and space technology

Introduction

This book takes a close look at our relationship with the sky, the stars, light and darkness. In particular, it examines how light pollution has interfered with the culture of astronomy and our ability to appreciate this essential facet of our natural world.

The sky has always held significance for humanity, in both cultural and scientific terms. And yet we persistently pollute it with (sometimes unnecessary) light in our obsessive desire to chase away the darkness. This effectively switches off the stars, hampering our ability to enjoy one of the most inspiring sights nature has to offer to humankind. In addition, too much light is hazardous to both our health and that of the fauna and flora of this planet.This book also features a comprehensive look at the current controversy regarding efforts to expand internet access through the launch into low Earth orbits of thousands of new satellites, which will pollute the night with moving lights while filling to saturation the capability of the circumterrestrial space. This conflict does not mean that the interests of astronomy and those of space technology have to be at odds, and potential compromises are explored between the satellite initiative and the desire to maintain a dark, radio silent sky.

Bibliographic information

Book Title Saving the Starry Night

Book Subtitle Light Pollution and Its Effects on Science, Culture and Nature

Authors Patrizia Caraveo

DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85064-7

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“Mega-constellations” from those satellites will be visible to the naked eye, simulations suggest

By Lisa Grossman

Companies like SpaceX and Amazon have launched hundreds of satellites into low orbits since 2019, with plans to launch thousands more in the works — a trend that’s alarming astronomers. The goal of these satellite “mega-constellations” is to bring high-speed internet around the globe, but these bright objects threaten to disrupt astronomers’ ability to observe the cosmos (SN: 3/12/20). “For astronomers, this is kind of a pants-on-fire situation,” says radio astronomer Harvey Liszt of the National Radio Astronomical Observatory in Charlottesville, Va.

Now, a new simulation of the potential positions and brightness of these satellites shows that, contrary to earlier predictions, casual sky watchers will have their view disrupted, too. And parts of the world will be affected more than others, astronomer Samantha Lawler of the University of Regina in Canada and her colleagues report in a paper posted September 9 at arXiv.org.

“How will this affect the way the sky looks to your eyeballs?” Lawler asks. “We humans have been looking up at the night sky and analyzing patterns there for as long as we’ve been human. It’s part of what makes us human.” These mega-constellations could mean “we’ll see a human-made pattern more than we can see the stars, for the first time in human history.”

Read more at https://www.sciencenews.org/article/satellite-mega-constellations-night-sky-stars-simulations

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Jun 30, 2021

Andy Lawrence

This is a short promotional video for “Losing The Sky”, a short non-technical book about the threat to the sky from satellite mega-constellations. You can find the book at Amazon, Apple Books, and Google Play Books. To see a bit more about what the book is all about, go to https://andyxlastro.me/losing-the-sky/ An associated live event, with myself, Catherine Heymans, Brian Eno, and many others, is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESoM3…

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