In light-polluted city areas, significantly fewer stars can be seen in the night sky. Photo: Our Planet

Which one of these skies matches the one you see every day? For most of us city folks, we are most likely familiar with the sky on the far left of the image above, where skyglow is prevalent and only a few stars can be seen at night. If you live in Singapore, you probably might have heard of the term light pollution, and been told how you live in the most light-polluted city in the world. Most of our skies are starless at night, polluted with the bright lights of the city.

Compared with other types of pollution like water, air, or land pollution, light pollution seems to be the least talked-about topic. You are not alone if you think, “Haven’t we all grown up with those bright city lights and starless skies, and been doing just fine?” Well, those bright city lights may, at the surface, illuminate our world at night, but they ironically blind us to their harmful effects. Light pollution not only obscures the stars at night, but they also lead to a host of ecological issues and threats to human health which cannot be ignored.

The thing is, light pollution is a global issue that is set to increase in the near future with the rising trend of urbanization. Findings from The New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness show that 80% of the world’s population live in light-polluted skies, and a third of the world population will not be able to see the Milky Way from where they live.

World map of artificial sky brightness. Photo: Falchi et al. 

It is in the hope that this blog brings to light (pun unintended) the sources and implications of light pollution, as well as what we can do about it, and more of us would ask the question, “Where did the stars go?” Follow this blog to find out more about light pollution, as I roll out more content in the weeks to come. See you soon!