Night skies are getting 9.6% brighter every year as light pollution erases stars for everyone
- Written by Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona
All human development, from large cities to small towns, shines light into the night sky. Benny Ang/Flickr, CC BY
CC BY-NDFor most of human history, the stars blazed in an otherwise dark night sky. But starting around the Industrial Revolution, as artificial light increasingly lit cities and towns at night, the stars began to disappear.