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An old slogan of ours says:
“The sun never sets on our snow”.
Who would have thought that these words would come true?
The sky in my town, until a few years ago, was dark and the stars shone. Now it is like this. The snow-capped mountain range in the background is the Gran Sasso d’Italia, the highest mountain on the Italian peninsula. In the middle is the western peak of Corno Grande (2912 m).
My dear grandmother used to tell me:
A sky without stars is like a face without eyes.
(translated with DeepL)
In South Wales the local councils have installed LED street lighting plus with the mania for ‘security lighting’ we have a similar problem.
I stayed in Tivoli just outside Rome 6 years ago, couldn’t see a single star when it got dark and the sky glow from Rome 41 km away was quite spectacular
Yes, the sky in Rome is worse, even the Vatican is brightly lit with headlights pointing upwards. Many people think that lighting is a sign of civilisation.
Near to me in Wigan, the fashion is increasingly to mount roof height floodlights which spread light around the entire neighbourhood. My local council’s attitude to light pollution seems to be indifferent and that the complainant must prove that the light is a ‘statutory nuisance’ for them to take action.
I’m not holding my breath for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies to make recommendations (if it ever gets round to doing so!) to the Government that would improve the situation for most people that live in towns and cities across the UK.
Maybe we need a league of shame to highlight the towns and cities that are damaging the environment the most with light pollution. Which would you vote for?
On a more positive note, modern technology is still giving me the opportunity to enjoy the wonders of the night sky. I was able to locate and image Comet C/2019 L3 Atlas within a couple of minutes last night… until the clouds rolled in.
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