Scientists made an unprecedented map of the night sky — and the results are alarming

Dan Duriscoe

Astronomers loathe light pollution, also called skyglow: a dim yet pervasive orange light that obscures a crisp view of the night sky.

But as a new study called "The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness," published in the journal Science Advances shows, there's a shocking amount of light pollution that affects as much as 1/3 of the world population — so it's no longer just a headache for scientists.

Here are snapshots of the new map and how light pollution is affecting the people of Earth.

On a clear night, you should be able to see the Milky Way — the only galaxy we call home.

Flickr/Abdul Rahman

But a multinational team of scientists have created a new map of light pollution around the planet, and the results are pretty alarming.

Paolo Neo/Wikimedia

The researchers discovered that more than 80% of humanity is bathed in light pollution, which is when light scatters off and illuminates gases in Earth's atmosphere.

Fabio Falchi, Chris Kyba

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