ANSA NEWS!
Arkansas Natural Sky Association
ANSA is a membership-based 501(c)3 non-profit & the Arkansas chapter of DarkSky International.
"A sky that once showed you 250 stars may now reveal barely 100 from the same spot. A peer-reviewed study published in Science from 2023 found that artificial night-sky brightness increased roughly 9.6% per year across the study's participating locations between 2011 and 2022, with North America tracking even faster at 10.4% annually.
That is not a rounding error. At that pace, each passing decade quietly erases a significant share of what the naked eye can see overhead."
Night Skies Are Growing 10% Brighter Each Year, and Your City’s LEDs Are Part of the Problem
www.yahoo.com
Artificial light is brightening night skies 9.6% per year, but shielded fixtures, warmer LEDs, and dimmer settings can slow the loss.
🕊️ October is a major window for fall bird migration across Arkansas. This weekend, we'll see a sharp uptick of birds migrating through our state.
Light pollution creates several risks for our avian friends.
😵💫 Disorientation - Artificial lights from homes, businesses and city glow confuse nocturnal migrators, which rely on the stars and moon to navigate.
🪫 Energy Depletion - Confused birds circle lit areas repeatedly, wasting critical fat reserves they need to complete their long journeys.
💥 Collision Risk - Disoriented birds are easily drawn into developed urban spaces where they crash into brightly lit or reflective glass buildings.
Turn off non-essential outdoor and indoor lights (or close blinds to prevent light spillage to the outside) at night to protect the millions of birds migrating south!
✨ Photo of the Month ✨
August 2026
📷: Tony Milligan
"It's been a long while since I've had the urge to do any Milky Way photography. Last night I decided to take about a half hour and go down to the old barn south of Caraway. This is a single exposure and I decided not to take out all the satellites to say this. It amazes me how many satellites are in our skies now that ruin our natural nights. Even more bothersome to me is they are steady adding to that number." (Shot August 14, 2026)
