One Fifth of World's Population Can't See Milky Way At Night

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Cosmos Magazine: "Light pollution has caused one-fifth of the world's population — mostly in Europe, Britain and the US — to lose their ability to see the Milky Way in the night sky. 'The arc of the Milky Way seen from a truly dark location is part of our planet's natural heritage,' said Connie Walker, and astronomer from the US National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. Yet 'more than one fifth of the world population, two thirds of the US population and one half of the European Union population have already lost naked eye visibility of the Milky Way.'"

Comments

Re:Aren't we in the milkyway?

[thegermanpolice]

Galaxy is greek for Milky. But then again everything is all greek to me.

Much like planet is greek for wonderer.

Go on mod me funny and informative.

Re:Milky Way, hell...

[truthsearch]

Real New Yorker's never look up. That's just for tourists.

Re:Well... I could.

[COMON$]

In Nebraska here, you can get a spectacular view just 30 miles out of Omaha or Lincoln. If you want to be absolutely stunned you can go to Valentine (north central Nebraska) and that is where they have amateur astronomy conventions. In august the meteor showers are breathtaking. You know it is a good view when a falling meteor burns the retinas a bit.

Even just outside Lincoln, not only can you see the Milky Way, but many college kids would ask me what the haze was amidst it...I would just reply, those are the rest of the stars...they always were stunned.

Perhaps this is why kids now adays have such big egos, they don't have to look up and see how insignificant they really are.