British stargazers may still have to grapple with the UK’s terrible weather, but dark, clear skies could be getting much easier to find.
NASA maps reveal how night lights are changing across the globe, with huge swathes of the UK fading into darkness.
Between 2014 and 2022, the UK has grown 22 per cent darker at night.
That makes Britain the second fastest dimming nation in Europe, just behind France, where the evenings are now 33 per cent less bright.
NASA says that this trend is mainly being driven by widespread technological shifts, such as the move towards energy-efficient LED lights.
The space agency also saw rapid periods of dimming during major events such as the COVID-19 lockdowns and the energy shock following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, concerted efforts to reduce light pollution at the local and national level have also played a critical role.
The news comes after a Suffolk hamlet became the first place in England to be recognised as an International Dark Sky Community – marking it one of the darkest places on Earth.
NASA maps reveal huge swathes of the UK are fading into darkness. Yellow areas show regions that have grown brighter, while purple shows regions of dimming
Between 2014 and 2022, the UK has grown 22 per cent darker at night, making it the second fastest dimming nation in Europe behind France where the evenings are 33 per cent darker
Until very recently, the assumption among researchers was that the world was getting brighter all the time as economic development and population growth expanded.
But NASA’s nine-year survey shows that the reality is actually far more complicated.
The agency used fridge-sized sensors orbiting Earth at 16,000 miles per hour (25,740 km/h) that can pick out the light from a single tollbooth on a dark road.
Using a new algorithm, they compiled 1.16million images taken by these sensors at 01:30 local time every day for almost a decade.
This showed that, although some parts of Earth are getting brighter, many others are fading into darkness, while some change back and forth over time.
Co–author Dr Zhe Zhu, of the University of Connecticut, says that tracking these dips and flares is ‘like watching the heartbeat of the planet’.
Globally, areas that did get lighter over time created a brightness increase equivalent to 34 per cent of the 2014 average.
However, this was offset by massive dimming in other regions, equal to 18 per cent.
Between 2014 and 2022, the UK has grown an impressive 22 per cent darker at night, making it the second fastest dimming country in Europe
This means the world’s net ‘radiance’ increased by 16 per cent overall between 2014 and 2022.
This trend towards a brighter night was particularly strong in China and India, where massive urban expansion is creating more buildings and more streetlights.
Likewise, many parts of sub–Saharan Africa showed significant brightening due to economic development and the increasingly widespread availability of electricity.
Europe, on the other hand, had a ‘clear and structured’ pattern of dimming, reaching 2022 four per cent darker at night than it was in 2014.
Besides France and the UK, the Netherlands showed particularly rapid darkening, reducing its nighttime illumination by 21 per cent.
This was largely driven by organised structural changes towards more energy–efficient lights, reduced light pollution, and better urban planning.
But some parts of the world also appeared to get darker for far less positive reasons.
Venezuela, for example, saw a total decline in nighttime radiance of 26 per cent relative to the 2014 baseline.
While the world has grown brighter on average, many countries have regions that have become a lot darker. Blue areas show dimming, red areas show brightening, and white indicates that the country has experienced both
In their paper, published in Nature, the researchers write: ‘The dimming observed in Venezuela is not driven by regulation or technology but stems from systemic collapse.’
They add that this change reflects ‘economic downturns, widespread infrastructure decay and lack of investment’.
In another contrast to Europe, where changes were generally divided along national borders, some countries have developed big internal differences.
In the US, the West Coast continually grew brighter over nine years thanks to ‘ongoing population growth and vibrant economies in its main urban centres’.
By contrast, the East Coast and parts of the Midwest actually grew dimmer as their economies faltered.
The researchers note that these regions saw ‘de-densification in some older urban cores’ and ‘the decline of certain manufacturing sectors’.
The researchers were also able to track the effects of global events and economic shocks.
The data tracks the war in Ukraine as the lights of buildings are snuffed out by drone strikes, and the chaos unfolding in the Middle East as the region flares and dims.
The patterns of gradual and rapid change reveal patterns of economic development, but also the impacts of world events such as the conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East
The researchers even spotted changes in energy markets, as parts of the world suddenly light up with gas flaring – the burning of excess gas from oil wells.
This was particularly visible in Texas’s Permian Basin and North Dakota’s Bakken Formation, as well as in the Middle East’s oil-producing nations.
Miguel Román, deputy director for atmospheres and data systems at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, says: ‘Earth at night has so much to teach us.
‘Unlocking energy sector insights is just one way NASA data is advancing national security interests at a critical time’
LIGHT POLLUTION IS ARTIFICIAL LIGHT THAT IS EXCESSIVE, OBTRUSIVE AND WASTEFUL
Light pollution, also known as photopollution, is the presence of anthropogenic light in the night environment.
Artificial light that’s excessive, obtrusive and ultimately wasteful is called light pollution, and it directly influences how bright our night skies appear.
With more than nine million streetlamps and 27 million offices, factories, warehouses and homes in the UK, the quantity of light we cast into the sky is vast.
While some light escapes into space, the rest is scattered by molecules in the atmosphere making it difficult to see the stars against the night sky. What you see instead is ‘Skyglow’.
The increasing number of people living on earth and the corresponding increase in inappropriate and unshielded outdoor lighting has resulted in light pollution—a brightening night sky that has obliterated the stars for much of the world’s population.
Most people must travel far from home, away from the glow of artificial lighting, to experience the awe-inspiring expanse of the Milky Way as our ancestors once knew it.
Light pollution is excessive and inappropriate artificial light. While some light escapes into space, the rest is scattered by molecules in the atmosphere making it difficult to see the stars against the night sky. What you see instead is ‘Skyglow’
The negative effects of the loss of this inspirational natural resource might seem intangible.
But a growing body of evidence links the brightening night sky directly to measurable negative impacts on human health and immune function, on adverse behavioural changes in insect and animal populations, and on a decrease of both ambient quality and safety in our nighttime environment.
Astronomers were among the first to record the negative impacts of wasted lighting on scientific research, but for all of us, the adverse economic and environmental impacts of wasted energy are apparent in everything from the monthly electric bill to global warming.
