I have no doubts that we live in the era of the light. What does it mean?
This text is another inspiration that came to my mind while walking in dark woods in Brok on the 11th of December, 2021. While strolling in the dark forest where I only could see the light of the snowy road ahead of me, and when I could only hear my footsteps, or, while standing, my breathing, another idea came up to my mind. When I started to watch the sky, I noticed it was cloudy and did not see any stars. Then, I asked myself, if we live in the era of the light (especially in urban places), does it mean that we live in, paradoxically, “dark ages?”
What are you writing about? Do you want to tell me that people living in the times of the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes live in the dark ages? Did you get crazy?
Undoubtedly, you could ask me, my Dear Friend. By stating that perhaps we live in dark ages, I meant that access to the starry night sky became a luxury. Due to cities’ light pollution, we do not see as many details as our ancestors. For ancient people, it was normal that they could stare at the starry dark sky and analyze space objects by standing on Earth. Of course, the fact that James Webb Space Telescope will provide us with astonishing pictures and data will be a breakthrough in science.
Still, for usual people, like me, access to the dark sky became something unusual.
For example, I must drive 90 km (56 mi.) to my beloved parents’ house in charming Brok and go to the dark forest to observe the night sky full of details. The truth is that in Warsaw, what I can spot is relatively only a Moon. That’s why by writing that we live in the era of the light, I want to stress that somehow we live in dark ages, and observing a sky full of stars became somehow a luxury issue.
