
The Stars Are a Comforting Constant - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/43/heroes/the-stars-are-a-comforting-constant
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paulmd
The stars are not a constant though. In virtually any suburban area you have
substantial amounts of light pollution. We are seeing a pale imitation of what
every human living before us saw.

You really have to go quite far off the beaten path to reach a true dark-sky
area. Unless you are living a 20 minute drive from the nearest town of 250 and
an hour away from the nearest town of 100k+ then you have some degree of light
pollution.

[https://www.lightpollutionmap.info](https://www.lightpollutionmap.info)

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solarkraft
Thanks for the link. Interesting map.

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grasshopperpurp
Some good moments throughout, and 'How to search for aliens'is my favorite of
the group. The comparison POV's between her and her mom and between the
claustrophobic vigil and the vastness of space worked well for me. She
projects more than I prefer with lines like, '. . .Four point five billion
years / since genesis and the sky still hovers / like a veil between us and
space, / _wanting to be lifted before the unintelligible . . ._ ' But, that's
a matter of preference. And, with the 4.5 B years, she brings in another fun
comparison - the shortness of human relative to the big-picture timeline -
without being explicit or trite. Thanks for sharing!

