Light pollution from astronomical observatories: too much artificial light in our skies
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The world travels towards the future with too many lights on, so much so that for a decade we have been wondering how it is possible that darkness no longer exists. And now a new study, just published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, shows that the situation is getting worse. The constant and omnipresent overillumination, in addition to compromising astronomical research, damages the health of the planet and its inhabitants.
Researchers from Italy, Chile and Galicia studied and compared the light pollution of the main astronomical observatories around the globe, using a model of light propagation in the earth’s atmosphere developed by the astronomer Pierantonio Cinzano and based on night satellite data.
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The study, conducted by the physicist Fabio Falchireveals that the night sky is more polluted than one might assume based only on the zenith radiance, i.e. “the luminosity of the celestial vault at the zenith which is usually the least polluted and therefore darkest area” explains Falchi. In this research, additional indicators were analysed: those measuring the average radiance at 30° and the average below 10° above the horizon, the average across the sky and ground illuminance given by artificial light.
In the 1970s, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) ruled that the limit of maximum artificial luminosity allowed for the main observatories must not exceed the 10% of the natural brightness of the sky. The results show that only 7 of the 28 major astronomical observatories have a healthy sky, with a zenith brightness of less than 1% of the assumed natural brightness. Two-thirds, on the other hand, exceeded the red line by 10% at 30° altitude.
“The least contaminated of all the nearly 50 sites studied is a lodge in Namibia which houses several telescopes that are rented to amateurs for visual, photographic and research uses. Using the tools we now have, we must try to reduce light pollution at all other sites, protect the huge investments in astronomical research and allow a long future for ground-based astronomy”, says Falchi.
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Since our cities have been transformed into open-air amusement parks, we have forgotten the beauty of a starry night. “Light pollution erases the possibility of seeing the stars for most of humanity and, paradoxically, as happens in Turin, they install lights with the shape of the constellations. We are absurd: the artificial is replaced by the infinite best show of the starry sky, once available to everyone on every clear night” adds Falchi.
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Too much night light, in addition to compromising astronomical studies, leads to consequences for human health, such as alterations in the production of melatonin, a hormone essential for our circadian rhythms. It affects the lives of wild animals, negatively affecting all their behavior. The consequences are also manifested on plants and their life cycle, but also on the absence of nocturnal pollinators. We have reached the critical threshold, but as usual actions needed to check for contamination from artificial light they don’t come.
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