Stars Are Disappearing From the Night Sky at an Alarming Rate

Light pollution has robbed eight out of 10 Americans, and nearly a third of all humans, of a view of our own home galaxy, according to new research out Thursday. The problem is something called "skyglow," which is the cumulative, diffuse brightening of the light sky from artificial light sources.  
A new study published in the journal Science uses crowdsourced data from a program called Globe at Night, which is run by the National Science Foundation-funded NOIRLab, a network of observatories. It finds that skyglow as perceived by human eyes is more of a problem compared with satellite measurements of artificial light on Earth. 
The study is the latest addition to a growing body of scientific literature on light pollution stretching back at least half a century. 
By analyzing over 50,000 citizen scientist observations, the researchers found an increase in sky brightness of 9.6% over the past decade, compared to just two per cent per year measured by satellites. 
"At this rate of change, a child born in a location where 250 stars were visible would be able to see only around 100 by the time they turned 18," said the study's lead author Christopher Kyba, a researcher at the German Research Centre for Geosciences, in a statement.
Stars Are Disappearing From the Night Sky at an Alarming Rate. Here's Why