…somewhere anyway. Apparently there are now only 60 stars visible in the night sky from central Sydney because of growing light pollution caused by the haphazard and rampant increase of outdoor and street lighting.
The Southern Cross constellation, whose status is central to the Australian flag, is in danger of being referred to as the Southern Triangle, as the mounting glare from the city’s various light sources makes it ever harder to see.
It has been claimed that the fifth, and faintest, star is already invisible from anywhere in Sydney, and that the fourth star is also rapidly disappearing from view.
A recent gathering of astronomers warned that unless drastic measures where taken to curb the proliferation of low quality lighting caused by poorly positioned security and street lights, and inadequate light coverings, the stars of the Sydney night sky will completely vanish from view.
Not only that, but the increasing glare is also beginning to affect the habitual patterns of nocturnal animals that also inhabit the urban fringe.
I recently read an article about Sydney’s population of flying foxes, or bats. While the article was more of an attempt to debunk many of the misconceptions surrounding bats, the author did refer to one of the rare wonders of being in Sydney was being able to glimpse a bat in flight, silhouetted against the stars of the night sky.
It is obvious this particular phenomenon is indeed very rare, as anyone here is going to be very lucky to see any stars in the night sky in which to silhouette a flying fox to start with!
While many of the astronomer’s concerns are valid, I do think some claims are a little over baked. While it is true that some 90 per cent of stars may have been banished from the night sky, I certainly have no trouble seeing all five stars of the Southern Cross, even the now “invisible” fifth star.
And this is from the roof of my apartment building in Randwick, an area that would certainly be considered part of central Sydney.
And while the light glare is undoubtedly disturbing some nocturnal creatures (with the possible exception of cats, of course) it doesn’t seem to bother the family of flying foxes residing in the giant old fig tree next to my apartment building.
They remain as lively, noisy and erratic as ever. And seemingly happy to blindly try and fly into me late on dark nights in the courtyard. Actually a few more stars in the night sky to silhouette them would be rather handy at times, it may help avert some of these near misses.
