A new study using satellites to observe Earth’s light pollution has revealed a devastating statistic for astrophotographers and skygazers: Light pollution has increased by 16 percent in less than ten years. However, the new study also has hints of hope that recent policies to reduce light pollution are actually helping.
The data comes from an international study published this week in the journal Nature. Researchers used daily satellite photos of Earth and, using NASA algorithms designed to filter out factors like moonlight and the aurora, measured changes in light pollution between 2014 and 2022.
