Anthropogenic Air and Light Pollution Effects on Night-Sky Visibility
Anthropogenic air and light pollution jointly reduce how many stars are visible from the ground: upward-directed artificial light scatters off atmospheric aerosols to create skyglow, and pollution-altered cloud cover can amplify urban sky brightness many-fold. This study pairs astrophotography from a low-elevation polluted suburb against a high-elevation site with awareness surveys, showing that residents of heavily polluted areas systematically underestimate both local pollution and their own contribution to it, and motivates shielded light fixtures and emission reductions to preserve amateur astronomy.
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Original Article: The Effects of Anthropogenic Air and Light Pollution on Astrophysics and Society
This student research article combines a short literature review with original fieldwork to examine how anthropogenic air and light pollution degrade night-sky visibility. It explains skyglow as arti…