Stars in the sky?

Question

Why can you never see stars in the sky anymore? I live in Birmingham in England and whenever you look out at the sky you can hardly ever see any stars and whenver you do they are just a few pathetic ones, however in other places ie. Ireland where i was on holiday for 3 weeks recently at night you can see hundreds of stars all over the place.. why is that? When i was little i remember there always being stars... but not anymore?

Answer 1

Light pollution. There's very few places in the UK where you can go to get a really good view - probably the northern most point in Scotland would be the best.

Shame - starry nights are magical, and we hardly get to see them.

Answer 2

Light pollution!

Too many street lights!

Get out to the countryside for a better view!

Answer 3

Too much 'light polution'. Go into the country and you'll see the stars again.

Answer 4

too much light pollution nowadays

Answer 5

It's light pollution.  I live in a town of 150,000 people.  It's so bright that when it's cloudy at night the sky looks orange.

Answer 6

Visability is really down to two main things.  The condition of the atmosphere and how much light there is around you.  If there are lots of clouds or smoke being poured into the sky by industrialisation and loads of lights coming from streets and buildings etc you are not going to have the same conditions as in the countryside away from civilisation.  I doubt if Birmingham is the best place to look at the stars and I'm surprised you'll see anything!!!

Answer 7

Light and dust make effective masks and screens, blocking our view!

Answer 8

This is a very serious problem, especially for astronomers.  It is called "light pollution", which is just what it says.  Because of street lights, your eyes don't fully adapted to very low light levels, and even if they could, light from the city scattered back by the sky would hide lots of faint starts.

Answer 9

Lack of Stars in your Sky:

1.) You moved into an area which is very brightly lit up

at night. Stars are rather dim to very dim, and you need

a really black sky to see them with any degree of clarity.

2.) Your area might have a dense cloud of pollution

floating over the city - smoke etc.

3.) Your house or apartment is probably surrounded by

brightly lit Advertising Signs, Street LIghts, and Security

spotlights. None of these improve Star Seeing experiences.

4.) You probably just walked out of a brightly lit building and

turned your face upward. Nix Nix... It takes about 30 Minutes

for your eyes to adjust to best night  time star viewing. You cannot jump back and forth from bright light to darkness and have any kind of working vision.

5.) Go outside at 1:30 AM...Walk away from any buildings

with brightly lit windows and street lamps.

Hold your hand in front of you...Can you see it clearly? If so, your location is to bright for worthwhile viewing of stars, etc. you might have useable views of the Moon which is so bright that we need to have filters to reduce its brilliance when using telescopes.

Answer 10

Haze, fog, air pollution and the worst reason of them all, massive wasteful use of outdoor lighting that sends more light into the sky than anywhere else. Light pollution is the main culprit behind the lack of stars in your city's skies. Your country is badly light polluted almost everywhere, with the major cities sending out massive light pollution outwards in every direction for 100 miles or more. It's no better here in the eastern U.S. and the Gulf Coast where I live. I have to drive more than 100 miles, or 160 km just to find decently dark skies. Even there I can see light from towns and cities, but at least I can see the Milky Way the way my grand parents and your great grand parents did as children. To find pristine skies requires a drive to remote corners of the Great Plains or Rocky Mountains. I once drove more than 2,100 km each way to attend a star party at the western tip of Oklahoma. It was so dark out there that when the clouds came one night, it was as dark out there as the cabins and corridors aboard the wreck of R.M.S. Titanic. When the stars were visible, the Milky Way blazed across the sky and I could move about by star shine alone. Haze, moisture and dust in the air scatter light back towards you, hiding stars as well as nebulae and galaxies. Light pollution is not only a massive waste of energy, it's also being harmful to plant, animal and human life. We need periods of darkness to keep our body functions balanced and in sync. It does little to reduce crime, creates hazards for motorists as well as blots out the stars.