Rare Event: Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Moon To Line Up On These 3 April Nights

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Sparsely populated helps.

Almost none of us experience truly dark skies, but even somewhat dark skies can be wonderful.

Don't know if you know, but Tucson, AZ has a Dark Skies policy. It was instituted about 50 years ago, as the light pollution from the city was interfering with the many telescopes on the mountains surrounding the city.

I partially grew up in Tucson, went to high school there, graduated in 1965 and moved away in 1968. Because I still have family and friends there, I visited semi-regularly.

A few years back on a trip there I was thunderstruck by what it was like driving in the middle of the city at night. Because of the Dark Skies policy, the streets were very well lit at street level, but if you looked above street level, oh my goodness! The night sky was dark and you could see lots of stars. It was actually rather disconcerting, as I'm used to the light level of cities rising well above me. In Tucson, anything above eye level was DARK.

I do wish more cities would do this. It's really not that hard, and improves the quality of life at night for the citizenry.

As a comparison, one amazing thing about the current stay at home because of the Corona Virus, is that skies are clearing in places like Los Angeles, and many other things are far cleaner. Not sure if clear skies in Los Angeles make star-gazing any easier. Probably not since light pollution is the first problem. But every single city could transition to a Dark Skies policy, and that would be wonderful. So what if it takes decades? Over time it will be wonderful.