Light pollution too: Italians no longer see the Milky Way – Italian News

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  
 Art, culture and nature are not lacking, but in terms of light pollution we are the last. Indeed, the first. According to the latest world atlas of light pollution in fact, Italy is the country of the G20 with the highest light “pollution index”, a problem so widespread as to prevent the 77% of the population to enjoy properly the night show of the stars . A quarter of Italians would live under skies so dazzled by artificial light as not to allow the eyes to adapt properly to the night view.

 

The international research team coordinated by the Italian Institute of Technology Scienz ae Light Pollution (ISTIL), was produced in collaboration with NOAA, US agency for the atmosphere and the oceans, the 'Israel's university of Haifa and the German center of geological research Gfz Potsdam.

the situation of the heavens was photographed thanks to the data collected by the satellite Suomi NPP Nasa and Noaa: elaborated by about forty computers (with software that calculated the propagation of light in the atmosphere), were then calibrated with a series of ground-based observations, collected for 20% of citizen volunteers. The data show that, in terms of area, Italy and South Korea are the "polluted countries" of the G20, while Canada and Australia are the darkest. In Europe, the less polluted skies are those of Scotland, Sweden, Norway, and at times also those of Austria and Spain. On a global scale, however, the bright smog hides the view of the Milky Way at a third of the population.

To lift our eyes to sky, night, and be able to see only the moon and a handful of stars. And 'what is happening today to more than 80% of the world population blinded by a light pollution more and more suffocating. Being able to distinguish the most famous constellations but also simply the most brilliant stars like Sirius and Canopus, it is almost impossible for those who live in Italy or Singapore.

To instil awareness of what we are slowly losing is a new World Atlas , the product of a collaboration between Italian and American scientists. The first of its kind for completeness of information, the atlas shows the spread of our skies of artificial lights, where light levels naturally present in the environment night were completely distorted electric lighting.

"We have generations of people in the US who have never seen the Milky Way", the authors explain. " A big part of our connection to the cosmos was lost" . In detail, the shining path of the Milky Way is hidden from the eyes of more than a third of humanity, including the 60% of Europeans and nearly 80% of North Americans.

40 electronic brains to work on light

the research, published in the journal Advances Science, it was conducted by an international group of scientists coordinated by the Institute of Science and Technology of light pollution (ISTIL) and in collaboration with the US Agency for the atmosphere and the oceans (NOAA), the American authority of the national parks, the German center of geological research (Gfz) and the Haifa Israeli universities.

to realizzala were collected data from the satellite Suomi NPP Nasa and Noaa, and redesigned them in forty computers with software: the program, which was created specifically, has calculated the propagation of light in the atmosphere and crossing the information with a series of ground-based observations (collected for 20% of citizen volunteers).

black shirt to Italy's dazzling sky

the Atlas shows that, in terms of area, Canada and Australia are the G20 countries with the most "dark skies", while Italy and South Korea are the most polluted. Polluted to the point that in the beautiful country almost eight out of ten Italians no longer able to enjoy the spectacle in the sky by the Milky Way.

In Western Europe, only small areas of the night sky they remain relatively intact, especially in Scotland, Sweden and Norway; on the rest of the European countries is stretched a dense bright cover. Goes wrong even to the United States where, despite the vast open spaces in the American West, 90% of the population lives under artificial lights skies. In some areas, like Singapore , the pollution level is so high that residents have reduced night vision capability.

" Being in first place in the ranking of the most polluted countries should give pause to those who, especially at the political level, continue to oppose an artificial night lighting abuse limitation ", says the physicist Fabio Falchi dell'Istil.

And the problem is not only to realize that he had lost the stars. Light pollution can lead to a real physiological harm to flora and fauna that hit hard the alteration of their natural rhythms and cycles (photosynthesis processes, photoperiodism of annual plants, changes on the habits of life and hunting of nocturnal animals etc.), with often fatal consequences.