Last summer, astronomer Brad Tucker took a bunch of US university students outside to look at the night sky.As they gazed up, Dr Tucker was asked to point out the Milky Way — that broad swathe of bright stars, comprising our galaxy, that crosses the sky.He was surprised by the request because these were astronomy students."It's not that they didn't know what the Milky Way was," Dr Tucker said."They had just never seen it."The students, from Portland, Oregon, were amazed to finally set eyes on the Milky Way in real life.Dr Tucker, who also works at Canberra's Mt Stromlo Observatory, has seen similar reactions when taking children to see the Milky Way, especially those from Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne."That's never surprised me because kids like seeing all these new things."But university students who are studying in this field … it was really, I think, the first time my mind got blown by this concept of light pollution."Light pollution occurs when "sky glow" — caused by light from art...
