Disappearing darkness

[Sagan]

Disappearing darkness

Scientists estimate that in about 10 years, America will have only three dark patches of land where people will be able to clearly see the Milky Way.

Story by Megan Finnerty, photos and video by Rob Schumacher and Pat Shannahan , The Republic | azcentral.com

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Scientists estimate that in about 10 years, America will have only three dark patches of land where people will be able to clearly see the Milky Way and where they'll be able to do high-quality astronomy and nocturnal wilderness research.

Those areas are southeastern Oregon and western Idaho; northeastern Nevada and western Utah; and northern Arizona and southeastern Utah — the better part of the Colorado Plateau.

The light-sprawls of the greater Las Vegas and Phoenix areas imperil dark skies in both the Colorado Plateau and northeastern Nevada and western Utah. The Oregon-Idaho patch is not near large cities.

This map shows light pollution using false coloring to illustrate the intensity of light that spreads from cities and towns. The white and red areas are the brightest. The gray and blue areas are the darkest. This image illustrates an especially sensitive measure of light pollution and is not meant to imply that all colored areas are very bright. Rather, all colored areas are brighter than they would be without light pollution.

I read about this outfit in an article in a magazine back in December:

International Dark-Sky Association

[merc]

I grew up in the countryside. I'm not afraid of the dark, but more and more neighbors use great big overhead outdoor lights. I'm not sure for what purpose perhaps to deter criminals. The funny thing is that most of our local crime seems to occur during the day when people are not home, at work or on vacation. My parents even witnessed a crime in progress when a neighbors stack of used siding was loaded up onto a truck and hauled away by "God knows who?"
He was having work done and my parents never questioned when the siding was hauled away.
At night the sky is beautiful, in the city where I work I can only see a few of the stars. At home when I look in the direction of the towns or cities I see a glow. At work in the parking lot songbirds continue to sings and gather insects that flock to the lights. I wonder how this formerly daytime birds are evolving?