Looking up at the stars is awe-inspiring experience but light pollution from the ground greatly reduces the number of stars that can be seen. Even a single neighbouring security light that is either permanently on or frequently activated by people or animals can ruin the night sky for others.
There is an annual event that aims to measure and track people’s ability to observe the night sky in detail and this year’s event will take place during 17 – 24 February. Those dates coincide with the New Moon (on the 20th) so will give the best viewing conditions. To take part, you only need to be able to identify the body of the Orion constellation and count how many individual stars you can see within its area. Then submit your number to the campaign website. There is more information in a previous post that I wrote to encourage participation in the 2021 event: you can access that information, including appropriate diagrams of the Orion constellation, here.
As always, participation is free and you should register in advance on the CPRE Dark Skies website, where you will also find details of last year’s results, which are sumarised in the illustration below. The redder the observation dots, the fewer the stars that can be seen. Jersey doesn’t do too badly compared with most of the UK but it is clear that living within sight of the airport (on the West of the Island) means having to tolerate more light pollution in that direction – but in a necessary cause, of course.
As the map shows, last year there were just three results from Jersey whereas in 2021 there were six reports: maybe we can equal or exceed the 2021 figure in 2023!
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