Noctalgia (sky grief): Our Brightening Night Skies and Loss of Environment for Astronomy and Sky Traditions

2023/08/28 by Aparna Venkatesan, Venkatesan, Aparna, John C. Barentine +1 · 3 voices
Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Impact of Light on Environment and Health #astro-ph.IM #physics.soc-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.14685

openalex publication_date 2023/08/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Fifty years after the first mention of light pollution in Science, the journal recently elevated this topic to the cover of its 16 June 2023 issue, highlighting the large impact on human and ecological health, circadian rhythms, migratory patterns, and more. We offer here the term noctalgia to express "sky grief" for the accelerating loss of the home environment of our shared skies - representing loss of science, heritage, millennia-old sky traditions, place-based language, and more - and summarize next steps to address the protection of our nighttime and daytime skies.

Discussions

• It is always a good time to read Aparna Venkatesan e John C. Barentine: "We offer here the term noctalgia to express “sky grief” for the accelerating loss of the home environment of our shared ski [bsky, 4 points, 0 comments]
• Astronomers propose a new word for the loss of dark nights due to light pollution & giant strings of satellites — noctalgia, from the earlier word solastalgia (the perception of negative environmental [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]
• Noctalgia: Loss of Night Skies and Environment for Astronomy, Sky Traditions [hn, 1 points, 1 comments]

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