Looking Up At Night

If you’ve been reading my posts even sporadically and happened to catch a few I wrote when a celestial event was taking place, you know I relish looking up into the night sky.

I’ve written about a variety of meteor showers, eclipses, and comets, among other phenomena. And a crucial aspect of witnessing these events comes down to the ability to look up into the night sky and see.

Living in the Country

Most people would look at where we live and assume that we have spectacular views of the night sky because we live ‘in the country.’ Sadly, however, ‘living in the country,’ at least when it comes to the corridor between Washington D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts, does not translate to darkness at night.

In fact, and here’s a confession: I’m incredibly frustrated with a couple of neighbors who’ve moved into our area over the past couple of years. Both sets of new owners purchased homes that were at least 150 years old and sat on a nice amount of acreage.

One property is on our road, quite close to our home. We live in what used to be referred to on historical maps as a hamlet – essentially consisting of a half dozen or so houses. We do not have street lights. We live in the country. That is an essential part of the beauty of where we live.

Lack of Awareness

Thus, it is unbelievably irritating that people have moved in a few houses away from us and decided it was a great idea to hang several strings of bright light bulbs extending from their house to their barn, lighting up the entire ‘neighborhood.’ Even more irritating is the fact that they keep them on all night.

At first we thought this was just some decorative activity because it was approaching Thanksgiving. We chalked it up to a little ‘being afraid of the novelty of living in the country’ pre-holiday lighting. But it never ended. They never took those lights down. The lights never get turned off (at night).

When I went outside to look at the Leonids or Orionids, I had to either drive a mile or so in order to escape the glare of the neighbors’ lights or find a place that was shielded by structures from the glare. When we took a walk after a heavy snowfall and wanted to look up into the pristine sky and witness the moon glistening off the icy crust, we were treated to lights instead.

Lighting Up the Countryside

The other example of neighborly infliction of light pollution is a farm that was purchased by people who only live at the premises part time, but have installed an brilliant, glaring spotlight on their barn that blasts light in all directions. The light is literally blinding, and is made worse by the fact that the house and barn sit atop a wonderfully prominent hill that used to be a choice spot to witness the constellations.

Now we literally have to shield our eyes if we take a walk once the sun has set. It is incredibly upsetting every single time we walk up that hill (on our usual 2.2 mile walkabout – although it’s also on the longer 4 mile trek as well). It’s brighter than having a car bearing down on us. And the road upon which we’re walking is probably 150 yards from the barn – that’s how huge a blast of light is being emitted from this light.

Light Pollution

I’m reminded of this pollution and how upsetting it is that people move into the country, where we’ve kept lights at a minimum on purpose because of this article that just appeared the other day. Light pollution hurts all of us.

We need to be able to see the stars at night. As mentioned in the article, we used to be able to see over 2500 stars at night. Now, many people in Europe and the United States are lucky to be able to see a few hundred with the naked eye. And that’s because of light pollution.

As I contemplated this situation yet again this evening and read this most recent article again, I checked out one of the organizations mentioned: the International Dark Sky Association. I’m seriously contemplating becoming involved with this organization to see if I might craft a strategy to appeal to our neighbors and ask them to not only reconsider the impact of their ‘lighting up the night,’ but also contemplate the gifts and benefits to all of us of embracing the dark.

It’s Not Just Hurting Us Humans

As the article points out, it’s not just humans who are affected by the inundation of our world by light (and LED lights making things even worse). All nocturnal creatures are suffering from our insensitivity to the impact of too much light at night.

Just one fascinating fact is the incredible number of birds that suffer unintended and unexpected consequences as a result of urban and suburban lighting. Many migrating birds are thrown off course or run into buildings and windows as a result being blinded by lights. You can read more about this issue here.

Mountain Awe

I guess I’m particularly sensitive to this topic because of the stunning beauty I witnessed just the other night.  I walked outside at 4:30 a.m. and looked up. I’m about 4,000 feet above sea level, high in the Appalachians. When I looked up into the unpolluted night sky, I felt my entire being open up to the enormity of the Universe. To the core of my being, I felt utterly expansive and at the same time utterly humble in my insignificance.

I cannot help but feel that everyone would benefit from experiencing such a profound sense of awe on a more frequent basis. We all deserve to see the Milky Way. Especially since so many have never experienced it ever.

(T-743)