Moonlight, Starlight, Streetlight: Artificial Illumination and the Decline of Natural Darkness
Location
Janet Ayers Academic Center, JAAC 4094
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
16-9-2019 2:00 PM
Description
Human culture has been shaped by an abiding awareness of the night sky and its cycles. The rising and setting of the sun and moon, the wanderings of the planets, the moon’s phases, the unchanging background of the stars, the scattered light of the Milky Way, magnificent eclipses and random comets—all these have been the seat of mythology, astrology, and spirituality, an inspiration for art, poetry, and song, and the ground for modern astronomy and cosmology. But what happens when we illumine our cities and the outdoors with powerful electric lights? When we can no longer see the Milky Way, the constellations, or enjoy a starlit night? When we don’t track the motion of planets and can’t tell them apart from stars? When we barely even notice whether the moon is in the sky? Are we losing something important?
Recommended Citation
Schafer, Daniel, "Moonlight, Starlight, Streetlight: Artificial Illumination and the Decline of Natural Darkness" (2019). Humanities Symposium. 25.
https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium/2019/2019/25
Moonlight, Starlight, Streetlight: Artificial Illumination and the Decline of Natural Darkness
Janet Ayers Academic Center, JAAC 4094
Human culture has been shaped by an abiding awareness of the night sky and its cycles. The rising and setting of the sun and moon, the wanderings of the planets, the moon’s phases, the unchanging background of the stars, the scattered light of the Milky Way, magnificent eclipses and random comets—all these have been the seat of mythology, astrology, and spirituality, an inspiration for art, poetry, and song, and the ground for modern astronomy and cosmology. But what happens when we illumine our cities and the outdoors with powerful electric lights? When we can no longer see the Milky Way, the constellations, or enjoy a starlit night? When we don’t track the motion of planets and can’t tell them apart from stars? When we barely even notice whether the moon is in the sky? Are we losing something important?
Comments
Convocation Credit: Society and the Arts & Sciences