Scientific American:

Astronomers have a new term to describe the pain associated with the loss of access to dark skies: noctalgia

By Paul Sutter, SPACE.com on September 26, 2023

Humanity is slowly losing access to the night sky, and astronomers have invented a new term to describe the pain associated with this loss: “noctalgia,” meaning “sky grief.”

Along with our propensity for polluting air and water and the massive amounts of carbon we're dumping into the atmosphere to trigger climate change, we have created another kind of pollution: light pollution.

Most of our light pollution comes from sources on the ground. While humans have had campfires and handheld lanterns for ages, the amount of light we produce through electricity is astounding. We light up our office buildings, streets, parking lots and homes. Of course, some of this lighting is needed for safety and security, but much of it goes to waste.

Plus, until we became more aware of light pollution, we tended to allow lighting to spill in every direction, both toward the areas we were trying to illuminate and straight up into the night sky.

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