Light In Our Darkness

It’s just after 7 pm on a December evening and I’ve sat down to start this article. I’ve switched on this room’s light, my desk top lamp and left on the light in my kitchen and stairs in case I have to nip down for a coffee. Light in my darkness. The trouble begins when it is light in our darkness.

It’s been said that the electric light bulb is one of the greatest human inventions of all time and I would agree with that, but like many things too much of a good thing can be a disaster. In this case the overuse of artificial light has caused pollution of the skies. Vast areas of North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia are glowing with light, while only the most remote regions on Earth (Siberia, the Sahara, and the Amazon) are in total darkness.

night lights on Earth (from the ISS)

Darkness is essential to our biological welfare. For centuries before the development of artificial light, human beings had become used to a day/night cycle of 12 hours of natural light and 12 hours of darkness. That cycle is a part of our circadian rhythms, an essential biological imperative which is dramatically affected by the presence of light at night.

There is increasing awareness of the impact that light pollution can also have on wildlife. It interrupts natural rhythms including migration, reproduction and feeding patterns. Human-made light causes confusion to migrating birds, often with fatal outcomes.

I live in a city and the view of the sky and stars is limited. I still remember being overwhelmed by the night sky when in a remote part of Finland. I’m sure that some of you will have had similar experiences. But many children will grow up never seeing the Milky Way, our own galaxy, because of the impact of artificial light.

And then there is the effect that light pollution has on astronomical observations. Astronomers have long voiced concerns about increasing yet mostly unregulated artificial urban lighting and satellite mega-constellations impacting valuable observations of deep-space objects by ground-based observatories, which are considered the real workhorses of space science and are more severely impacted by light pollution than their space-based counterparts.

Bortle Scale of light pollution

Astronomically, it decreases the signal-to-noise ratio. This means that, just like a fog, the artificial light washes out and obscures faint fuzzy nebulae, galaxies, and even the stars that should be seen in the night sky. This artificial fog of light noise blocks/hides the stars that are so necessary to astronomy.

There are several organizations working to reduce light pollution. One of these is the U.S.-based International Dark Sky Association (IDA), formed in 1988 to preserve the natural night sky. IDA educates the public and certifies parks and other places that have worked to reduce their light emissions. It has five types of dark sky places, which are certified according to different standards and criteria: dark sky sanctuaries; dark sky reserves; dark sky parks; dark sky communities; and urban night sky places.

In the UK, there are many dark sky reserves, parks and communities which make an ideal location for a stargazing trip. Galloway Forest became the UK’s first dark sky park in 2009.

The photographic map near the beginning of this article shows how Earth is affected by light in our darkness and also relates to the poem below.

A View from Above

There is a photo
taken from the Space Station,
I have it on my office wall,
it shows a night time planet
when city lights
twinkled around the globe.

We had a game
join the dots
the quickest the shortest
the most interesting way
to get from, for instance,
Nairobi to Oslo
my wife decided who won.

I remember the furore
when the crew updated it
posting Earth divided
by a broad black band
either side of the Equator
and called it The Third’s World.

My wife didn’t think it was funny.

From my ‘Notes on the Causes of The Third World War by JC Dunne’ published by Indigo Pamphlets in 2020.

Thanks for reading. Happy New Year, Terry Q.

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The Night Sky

light pollution

noun

noun: light pollution

1. brightening of the night sky caused by street lights and other man-made sources, which has a disruptive effect on natural cycles and inhibits the observation of stars and planets.

   "for many astronomers light pollution has been a disaster"

Light pollution, also known as photo pollution, is the presence of anthropogenic and artificial light in the night environment. It is exacerbated by excessive, misdirected or obtrusive use of light, but even carefully used light fundamentally alters natural conditions. As a major side-effect of urbanization, it is blamed for compromising health, disrupting ecosystems and spoiling aesthetic environments. 

Light pollution competes with starlight in the night sky for urban residents, interferes with astronomical observatories and, like any other form of pollution, disrupts ecosystems and has adverse health effects. 

Light pollution is a side-effect of industrial civilization. Its sources include building exterior and interior lighting, advertising, outdoor area lighting (e.g. car parks/parking lots), offices, factories, streetlights, and illuminated sporting venues. It is most severe in highly industrialized, densely populated areas of North America, Europe and Japan and in major cities in the Middle East and North Africa like Tehran and Cairo, but even relatively small amounts of light can be noticed and create problems. Awareness of the deleterious effects of light pollution began early in the 20th century but efforts to address effects did not begin until the 1950s^. In the 1980s a global dark-sky movement emerged with the founding of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). There are now such educational and advocacy organizations in many countries worldwide. 

When artificial light affects organisms and ecosystems it is called ecological light pollution. While light at night can be beneficial, neutral, or damaging for individual species, its presence invariably disturbs ecosystems. For example, some species of spiders avoid lit areas, while other species are happy to build their spider web directly on a lamp post. Since lamp posts attract many flying insects, the spiders that don't mind light gain an advantage over the spiders that avoid it. This is a simple example of the way in which species frequencies and food webs can be disturbed by the introduction of light at night.

Light pollution poses a serious threat in particular to nocturnal wildlife, having negative impacts on plant and animal physiology. It can confuse animal navigation, alter competitive interactions, change predator-prey relations, and cause physiological harm. The rhythm of life is orchestrated by the natural diurnal patterns of light and dark, so disruption to these patterns impacts the ecological dynamics. 

Studies suggest that light pollution around lakes prevents zooplankton, such as Daphnia, from eating surface algae, causing algal blooms that can kill off the lakes' plants and lower water quality^. Light pollution may also affect ecosystems in other ways. For example, lepidopterists and entomologists have documented that nighttime light may interfere with the ability of moths and other nocturnal insects to navigate. Night-blooming flowers that depend on moths for pollination may be affected by night lighting, as there is no replacement pollinator that would not be affected by the artificial light. This can lead to species decline of plants that are unable to reproduce, and change an area's longterm ecology^. Among nocturnal insects, fireflies are especially interesting study objects for light pollution bed, because they depend on their own light to reproduce and consequently are very sensitive to environmental levels of light. Fireflies are charismatic^.(which is a rare quality among insects) and are easily spotted by non experts and due to their sensibility and rapid response to environmental changes, good bioindicators for artificial night lighting. Massive insect declines have been suggested as being at least partially mediated by artificial lights at night.

Dark Sky

A dark-sky preserve (DSP) is an area, usually surrounding a park or observatory, that restricts artificial light pollution. The purpose of a dark sky preserve is generally to promote astronomy. Because different national organizations have worked independently to create their programs, different terms have been used to describe the areas. This has led to confusion between the terms reserve, preserve, and park. The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) chooses reserve to avoid confusion with park, when using the initialisms "IDSR" (International Dark Sky Reserve) and "IDSP" (International Dark Sky Park).

Although the first established dark sky preserves were in Canada there are areas of the UK that have reasonably light pollution free areas of sky. Snowdonia National Park, parts of Nothumberland, Northern Scotland and The Lake District are great places to go stargazing. Red Bull have composes a list - the web site is here but I couldn't manage to add a link so you will need to cut and paste.   

https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/best-stargazing-spots-uk

At my previous address, I was fortunate to have an excellent view of the night sky. I loved to go out on cold nights and look ay the myriad visible stars, planets and galaxies.

Stargazer

 

In the smallest hours

as icy talons draw the frosted curtain
over saturated lawn,
the  brightness of still moonlight
pulls me into woollens, gloves and sock-filled boots   
to gaze with craning neck
upon my private piece of sky. 

Across vast, infinite blackness,

awash with crystal constellations

ringing clearly as a chime,

I begin my journey backwards
to the farthest point in time.

Spectral gems set in dark matter
guide me to creation’s mystery.
I see Orion’s belted three
and Betelgeuse’s glow.
Russet red: set to blow,   
bulging with impatience to explode in Supernova,
To give to us a second sun
that we may ponder over.

Jupiter, the juggler,

deftly holds four moons aloft.
Ganymede, Calisto,
Europa and fair Io.
Differing shapes and sizes,
shimmering colours, diverse orbits,
Sometimes two are visible,
this evening I spy three.

Now seeking pale blue Venus,

I am gripped by searing cold,
numb toes and fumbling fingers,
icy stalactites on my nose.

So back inside with warming cup,

I climb the wooden hill,
as iridescent moon
glows gently on my windowsill.
I snuggle in to hibernate
with drapes left open wide.
To sleep,
to dream of heavenly bodies

adrift in endless time. 

Keep warm folks. Thanks for reading. Adele 

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