Sources of Night-Time Light Pollution

International citizen science project reveals streetlights are only one part of the growing light pollution problem, with residential and commercial lighting also playing major roles

A major international citizen science project, with contributions from University of Galway, has revealed that streetlights are far from the only source of light pollution affecting our night skies.

The study, published in Nature Cities, challenges the common assumption that streetlights are the primary contributor to urban light pollution and indicates that residential, commercial, and other non-street lighting sources play a significant role in brightening our night skies.

Many of these sources remain on well after midnight, creating unnecessary light spill and contributing significantly to night-time skyglow and its environmental impacts.

More than 250 citizen scientists, mostly located in Germany, used a mobile app called Nachtlichter (‘Nightlights’) to examine over 230,000 individual light sources during 3,868 night-time surveys.

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