Light Pollution Affects 99 Percent Of The Earth's Night Sky Views

Even though you might love to watch a lot of brilliant stars in the night sky, research shows that almost 99 percent of the world's skies get affected by light pollution.

Only one-third of Americans can see the Milky Way from their homes, according to hngn.

In a survey, it was found that 90 percent of visitors to Maine's Acadia National Park wanted to watch the sky as "very important" to them, however, almost a third of them cannot see the Milky Way from their homes, the University of Vermont reported.

The light pollution in national parks is mostly due to development, while lighting from towns and cities can impact the view of the night sky for about 250 miles.

"It's a typical story," said Robert Manning of the University of Vermont. "We begin to value things as they disappear. Fortunately, darkness is a renewable resource and we can do things to restore it in the parks.

"Inside the park, you want to eliminate as much unnecessary light as possible," he continued. "Outside, the goal is to minimize light trespass. That's more challenging, but possible."

Visitors should thus try to minimise their use of light equipment. As older light sources that target light sources horizontally rather than directionally lead to light pollution, more people should switch to LEDs and other "directional lighting".

Another suggestion was that towns and cities near national parks should make use of astronomical tourism in order to minimise light pollution.

The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Park Science.