Pollution takes form in many ways including land, air and water pollution which are those that are most talked about and most well documented. But, other just as dangerous forms of pollution are not so well publicized and one of those take the form of light pollution.
A new, updated version of the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness has just been released which provides much more clarity than its predecessor in 2001. The atlas was written by Fabio Falchi and team and measures the amount of artificial sky glow throughout the world.
Artificial sky glow is effectively the lighting up of the sky by artificial means such as electric lights or gas flares. This excessive light in the night is what is considered to be light pollution and has many negative impacts. Due to the amount of un-natural light produced in the night sky, the Milky Way and various other stars are now actually invisible to one-third of the globe.
Many of us may have not even considered this to be a form of pollution, but sky glow has a health impact on both ourselves and our wildlife. With the increased amount of light our bodies are receiving, this affects our natural body clock, and we are at risk of delaying our normal night-time physiology. Our bodies naturally work on a 24-hour cycle, and if this becomes unbalanced due to drastic changes in light patterns, this could lead to further health issues.
Further work and research are due to continue on this subject and scientists are keen to get steps underway to find a way to tackle the ongoing issue of light pollution and the damage it is causing to our health.
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