Hi all, please read/boost/sign this anti-light-pollution petition.

Most Australians in cities will never see the Milky Way. Rural areas near towns are losing their night skies.

If you want to see your light pollution level, and find nearby dark sky sites, check the click-able map and tools here:
https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=4.49&lat=-31.3576&lon=150.6455
(The neat tool for "find closest dark sky" can help you find a Class-2 sky)

Just to give some idea of what the numbers mean, click on your location and observe the "Bortle Class". Above Class-3, the Milky Way’s detail disappears.

To see a Class-2 sky, where it still blazes overhead, you now have to go far, and even those places are shrinking, for example:

• From central coast NSW you need to drive for an hour on country roads to see a decent dark sky (see image attached).
• Most of Lamington National park is Class-3 and can't see the Milky Way properly.
• If you're in Melbourne, it's a 2 hour drive to Murrindindi.
• Brisbanites need to head out past Lake Wivenhoe and Somerset.
• Even from Hobart it's a fair hike to somewhere like Crabtree (and that's STILL on the edge of a class-3 sky there).

Anyway, there's a petition out to recognise and work to reduce light pollution.

It's an issue close to my heart as I've always enjoyed astronomy and stargazing. I now live in suburban Brisbane and I have accepted I will never see real stars here (we have almost the same light pollution in the burbs as the suburb of Brisbane IN SAN FRANSISCO)!

Most astronomy nerds I know aren't expecting anything extreme and recognise people, especially in cities, want light for safety and convenience. But, we can still protect some areas, cut back on glowing billboards and useless sky-flooding lights that are pointing at nothing, even that would help.

The Dark Sky Alliance is pushing for Australia to act, like Europe already has.

Sign the petition (sorry, Australians only):

https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN7346

Everyone else, a boost or share would be appreciated if you don't mind.

It'd be nice for future generations to be able to see more than a few-dozen specks of light in the sky.

#Australia #Auspol #Astronomy #LightPollution #NightSky #Sydney #Brisbane #Canberra #Melbourne #Tasmania #Energy

PS. Sorry for the long rant!