America’s rapid adoption of LED lighting saves money and uses less electricity. But it’s also making it harder to see the stars.
Light pollution comes from excessive artificial light that causes the sky to glow and obscures the light of the stars, and the problem is growing fast. New research in the journal Science found the night sky is getting 10% brighter every year.
Experts say much of that light pollution is driven by the growth of cheaper, cleaner and brighter LED lighting.
“The most common kinds you see, the sort of bright white ones, are absolutely making the problem much worse,” said Stephen Hummel, the dark skies senior outreach coordinator at the University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory.
A light pollution mapof the United States shows the widespread nature of the problem. The eastern half of the United States is almost entirely blanketed by some level of light pollution. And while the night sky is hardest …