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Given the harmful effects of light pollution, a pair of astronomers has coined a new term to help focus efforts to combat it. Their term, as reported in a brief paper in the preprint database arXiv and a letter to the journal Science, is "noctalgia." In general, it means "sky grief," and it captures the collective pain we are experiencing as we continue to lose access to the night sky.

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[-] YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca 76 points 2 years ago

It’s shocking how many lights are left on during the night in a city or a built up area. Does a big box store need to keep its logo lit all night? We’re so desperate to shut out the beauty of the planet and blind ourselves with human made ugliness.

[-] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 42 points 2 years ago

It's frustrating how many people have security lights aimed wrong. They're often aimed high, wasting light to the sky, and they're often mounted low, blinding you walking into your own home and leaving you vulnerable.

[-] ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 years ago

Or those backyard street lights bright enough an airplane could land with!

[-] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

The sad irony is that with no around to monitor the property, these [in]security lights are often just providing light to any thieves. If you see flashlights bobbing in a yard, it's suspicious. If you see someone walking through someone else's yard, it might just be the owner. If you light the yard and you aren't around to look, do the thieves make a sound?

[-] BURN@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago

TBH if I’m out at night I’d much prefer it to be bright and lit up in the city. If the city is dark and quiet at night it feels more unsafe to residents.

Not saying it’s right, but it makes sense

[-] pgp@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 years ago

The city can be lit and bright and keep the light pollution to a low. If only street lights were on, and these were directed towards the ground.

[-] Poggervania@kbin.social 14 points 2 years ago

Additionally, you’d use a different kind of light for street lights. On the island of Hawaii, that island specifically has a light pollution law that mandates all street lights have to use an orange light bulb, and they can only be in certain places. It’s amazing because you can see so many stars in the night sky.

If city lights are gonna be on 24/7, we should start to see if we can get traction for reduced brightness and installing less light polluting lights.

[-] carbrewr84@kbin.social 12 points 2 years ago

It's technically not orange light bulbs they have to use, it's a specific lamp style called 'low pressure sodium'

Here's an article that explains the reasoning behind Hawaii's lighting sources and the regulations:
https://www.accessfixtures.com/hawaii-lighting-ordinances-dark-sky-regulations/

[-] Zak@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

That site is claiming that phosphor-converted amber LEDs provide all the benefits of low-pressure sodium. They do not; one of the benefits of LPS is that astronomers have a very narrow frequency band to filter out, while PC amber is much wider. Monochromatic amber LEDs are more comparable to LPS.

[-] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

We put a yellow bulb for our house porch light, and it doesn't even attract bugs! It's like a win/win.

[-] DarkThoughts@kbin.social 11 points 2 years ago

Or the big advertisement screens. I get the need for street lights but they also don't have to be the most brightest super white LEDs that exist either. Nowadays I literally can't even tell whether it is cloudy or not, because the sky is just this mushy grey noise. And the sad thing is that I still remember the night sky from a couple decades ago when cities weren't quite as bright. Now you can be lucky to see the little dim flickering of the brightest odd stars every now and then.

[-] Gerbler@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago

the sky is just this mushy grey noise

You might even say it's the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel

[-] FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

As someone currently living across the road from a strip mall with a dozen various businesses…NO YOU DO NOT NEED TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON 24/7

this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
630 points (100.0% liked)

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