Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences – “Light pollution in urban centers creates a sky glow that can blot out the stars. The brighter the area in this zoomable map, the harder it is to see stars and constellations in the night sky. In the United States, national parks are often a refuge for darkness; national parks are shown in purple in the map below. Check out the globe version of the atlas, too (not compatible with Chrome). This map is based on data published June 10, 2016 by a team of researchers led by Fabio Falchi and including NOAA’s Chris Elvidge and CIRES’ Kimberly Baugh.”

“Artificial lights raise night sky luminance, creating the most visible effect of light pollution—artificial skyglow. Despite the increasing interest among scientists in fields such as ecology, astronomy, health care, and land-use planning, light pollution lacks a current quantification of its magnitude on a global scale. To overcome this, we present the world atlas of artificial sky luminance, computed with our light pollution propagation software using new high-resolution satellite data and new precision sky brightness measurements. This atlas shows that more than 80% of the world and more than 99% of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies. The Milky Way is hidden from more than one-third of humanity, including 60% of Europeans and nearly 80% of North Americans. Moreover, 23% of the world’s land surfaces between 75°N and 60°S, 88% of Europe, and almost half of the United States experience light-polluted nights.” Science Advances 10 Jun 2016: Vol. 2, no. 6, e1600377. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600377