Astronomers urge people to stand up to ‘big light’ industry amid unchecked brightening of night sky
A ban on megaconstellations of low-altitude satellites – arrays such as– should be considered, astronomers have said, in an effort to reduce light pollution and preserve our ability to study the skies.
In a series of papers and opinion pieces published in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists have raised the alarm about the brightening night sky, to stand up to “big light” as they have to other fields, such as big tobacco and big oil, and bring in regulation.“On the scales of immediate or long-term benefits and harm to society, and despite the popularity of satellite megaconstellations, we must not reject the possibility of banning them. On the contrary, we believe that the impacts and risks are too high for this possibility to be ruled out,” they write.
The team say that it is unlikely that bodies contributing to light pollution – be it from ground-based LEDs or other lamps, or low-altitude satellites – will regulate themselves. “Every time some health or environmental issue arises and starts to be addressed in the scientific literature, the ‘machine of doubt’ is put into action by the polluters to stop, or at least delay by years or decades, the adoption of countermeasures and rules to protect human health and the environment,” write Fabio Falchi, from the Light
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