The only time I really experienced the night sky – stars so big you could grab them – was in the Sahara in northern Mali. The Tuareg people in that region use the stars to guide them as they travel through the desert, under the cool of the night sky. Follow this star and you get to Niger, follow this other one to arrive in Algeria, and this star leads to my village….
This new study says that 80% of the world experiences light-polluted skies…and 99% percent of Europe and the US. Essentially, most people have no idea what they’re missing. The way the sky is supposed to appear, is a whole 12 hour storyline, a narrative of circling stars, connecting us to higher realms, allowing us to dream. If we are indeed stardust, then we have blocked out a magical part of ourselves.