Astronomers launch campaign to protect the dark night sky from light pollution

Few contemporary humans regularly see a truly dark night sky and experts say they may not be aware of what they have lost

The Milky Way as seen in a long photographic exposure in the mountains of Lebanon, north of Beirut. (AFP via Getty Images)

Humanity is blinding itself with light and losing sight of the starry night skies that once guided our ancestors and filled them with wonder, according to the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the international astronomy organization is doing something about it.

More than 80% of the world’s population has their view of the night sky curtailed due to light pollution, according to the ESO. The increasing number of satellites in orbit are photobombing the views of professional telescopes at the few remaining dark sky sites, such as the Very Large Telescope the ESO operates in Chile.

In response the ESO has launched a campaign to educate people about light pollution and the negative impacts of satellite mega-constellations on both professional and amateur astronomy. They launched a website spelling out the problem and created a social media hashtag, #ProtectDarkSkies, to spread the word. In a Tweet posted Wednesday using the new hashtag, the ESO pointed out that about one third of humanity can no longer see the Milky Way — the thick disk of our galaxy rich with dust and stars — in the night sky from where they live.