Dark skies

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is campaigning to reduce light pollution. Last week my wife and I went out after dark to see how many stars we could observe within the constellation of Orion - but not counting the major stars which make up the corner of the box. On a very clear night we could count just seven. This is shameful. We are located right at the edge of London in the borough of Bromley. We are not avid astronomers and do not get up in the early hours of the morning to peer through a telescope but we do love to see the stars and the constellations.

The CPRE and Astronomical organisations have come up with a number of reasons why we should have dark skies citing the waste of energy as one of them. For me, however, there is only one compelling reason - which is the sheer beauty of the night sky when seen from a very dark location.

During the Christmas period of 1999, whilst on a trip to France, there was a major power cut which turned off the lights over a vast area of the North. The view of the night sky was incredible; we found it difficult to identify the constellations as there were too many stars. There were thousands. From our location in London we can probably only see a couple of hundred stars.

You may well ask what difference does it make whether you can see the stars or not. The stars are our connexion with the rest of the galaxy. The more that you can appreciate the night sky the more you can appreciate the astronomical forces which dictate our life on earth.

There are more than two hundred billion stars in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and only the most bright are visible and identifiable from earth. It is possible, however, to see the faint luminous band which comprises the rest of the Milky Way from a dark location. This is impossible from a light polluted location such as Bromley.

Our solar system is the only one in the whole galaxy which is proven to support life. Our planet is the only planet which is known to support intelligent life. It will be extremely difficult to for us to travel to another planet let alone the nearest neighbouring star which is trillions of kilometres away.

We should look after our planet it may not be possible to get to another one that can support life.

That is why we need dark skies to appreciate our galaxy and our place in it.


http://www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/landscape/light-pollution/start-count-week-2011?gclid=CKa6n4a39qYCFQZO4QodjjZmGg