The ‘Great Worldwide Star Count‘, occuring between October 20th and November 3rd, is “organized by the Windows to the Universe project at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in Boulder, Colo., in conjunction with planetariums and scientific societies across the country and abroad” (according to Jason McManus, Daily Galaxy ), with funding provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The event, in which anyone can participate, gets people out of their houses and into their backyards to see if they can see any stars, and if so, how many in the vicinity of a chosen constellation. Your data gets entered into a database in a citizen study of light pollution across the world.

Citizen Scientists Count the Stars

The Great Worldwide Star Count

I have included a thoughtful article on light pollution, written for National Geographic, by one of my favorite New York Times writers, Verlyn Klinkenborg with pictures by Jim Richardson.

Light Pollution