Country Sky versus City Sky
Dark skies are disappearing from the world.
With modernization comes artificial lighting that brightens the night.
While these lights allow
modern humans to see, much light is wasted up into the sky.
This light pollution
not only wastes energy, but, when reflected by the Earth's atmosphere back down, creates a nighttime brightness that
disrupts wildlife and harms human health, while doing very little to
prevent crime.
Light pollution is also making a dark night sky a
scarcity for new generations.
While there is little that can be done in large cities, rural country areas could benefit from
lighting that is fully shielded from exposing the
night sky where it is not needed.
The featured panorama contains 6 adjacent
vertical segments taken from different locations across
Slovakia -- but with the same equipment and at the same time of night, and then subjected to the same
digital post-processing.
Although no stars are visible on the left-most city sky, the right-most country sky is
magnificently dark.
You can help protect the wonders of your night sky by favoring, when possible, dark sky friendly lighting.