Participants were asked to report the number of stars they could see with the naked eye in the Orion constellation. The results nationally show that, for just over half the population, their view of the night sky remains obscured by severe light pollution.
Emma Marrington, landscape enhancement lead at CPRE, the countryside charity, said: “It’s great that so many people took part in Star Count this year. What is clear is that light pollution continues to affect people’s experience of the night sky.
Jack Ellerby, Cumbria’s Dark Skies Officer at Friends of the Lake District, added: “CPRE’s star count gets people out after dark, making that connection with the wonder of the night sky, hopefully inspiring them to tackle light pollution.
“Unlike other forms of pollution that will take many decades to remove from our environment, such as plastics in the oceans or greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, by changing poor lighting we can all make an instant improvement.”
