Saving the Starry Night (eBook)

This book takes a close look at our relationship with the sky, the stars, light and darkness. In particular, it examines how light pollution has interfered with the culture of astronomy and our ability to appreciate this essential facet of our natural world.

The sky has always held significance for humanity, in both cultural and scientific terms. And yet we persistently pollute it with (sometimes unnecessary) light in our obsessive desire to chase away the darkness. This effectively switches off the stars, hampering our ability to enjoy one of the most inspiring sights nature has to offer to humankind. In addition, too much light is hazardous to both our health and that of the fauna and flora of this planet.

This book also features a comprehensive look at the current controversy regarding efforts to expand internet access through the launch into low Earth orbits of thousands of new satellites, which will pollute the night with moving lights while filling to saturation the capability of the circumterrestrial space. This conflict does not mean that the interests of astronomy and those of space technology have to be at odds, and potential compromises are explored between the satellite initiative and the desire to maintain a dark, radio silent sky.

Patrizia Caraveo is Research Director at the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and works at the Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica in Milano where she was Director from 2011 to 2017. Professor of 'Introduction to Astronomy' at the University of Pavia, in 2009, she won the Premio Nazionale Presidente della Repubblica. Moreover, she shared with her Swift, Fermi and Agile colleagues the Bruno Rossi prize of the American Astronomical Society in 2007, 2011 and 2012. In 2014, she received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Women in Aerospace European Society and was included by Thomson Reuters in the list of Highly Cited Researchers for Space Science. In 2017, she was awarded the title of Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana. Patrizia Caraveo is the author of several popular science books, notably 'Conquistati dalla Luna', in 2019. The 'Enrico Fermi' Prize 2021 of the Italian Physical Society (SIF) has been awarded to Patrizia Caraveo for 'her remarkable contributions to the study of the Universe with different observables and techniques'.