Did you know we have something in common with birds? And no, I'm not talking about our mutual love of trees. Both birds and humans can suffer from health problems as a result of excessive light. This isn't an issue new to this website, but I think it's important to reiterate over and over again.

A Night Blight campaign was launched in England by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) in 2003 to encourage the dimming or extinguishing of lights at night, especially in the countryside. The campaign group welcomed ideas and plans from the public on how to reduce lighting energy costs and light pollution by shutting off or dimming lights at night.

Reading this article in the MinnPost reminds me again of the threat our star observatories are facing because of the growing problem of light pollution. Pretty lights can certainly be viewed from this once-dark spot, but it’s not the light of distant stars, it’s the light of encroaching city illumination.

Stargazing is a really interesting hobby. For one thing, it requires that you stay up late into the night (especially during the summer when longer days are common in places farther away from the equator). I often wonder what it would be like to be an astronomer. Would they ever get any sleep?