Myth vs Reality: Light Pollution

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This short video addresses the misconception that we can't prevent light pollution from interfering with our view of the night sky.

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with the NASA Earth Observatory.

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA

except:
·       Daytime photo of lightning in Arizona courtesy of Wikipedia user ed ouimette
·       Photo of oil wells and flare in North Dakota courtesy of Tim Evanson
·       Photo of fracking equipment in North Dakota courtesy of Joshua Doubek
·       Photo of old and new San Francisco – Oakland Bay bridges courtesy of Frank Schulenburg
·       Sea creature illustration copyright The National Library of Israel, Shapell Family Digitization Project _and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Geography – Historic Cities Research Project
 
Music courtesy of Associated Production Music
Written by Tracy Vogel
Designed by Marc Lussier

(SPEECH)
[UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC]
 
(DESCRIPTION)
A blue hexagon appears in the middle of a gray background split into two halves by a line, A banner is outlined in light blue for the title, Myth vs Reality, An illustration with sea serpents surrounding a ship is above Myth, A satellite view of the city lights is above reality, A dark, rotating planet floats in the background at the bottom, The Myth side is highlighted, Text, Nothing can be done to stop light pollution from interfering with our view of the night sky.
 
The reality side is highlighted, Text, The glare of city lights often blocks our view of the night sky, but that doesn't have to be the case. Using inexpensive shields that direct light downward and turning off unnecessary illumination can help restore our ability to see the stars.