Do you live under a spectacular night sky?

Some light pollution updates for you this month. All can be found via my podcast, Light Pollution News (LightPollutionNews.com). This month, I welcomed Mont-Megantic’s Remi Boucher, a talented astrophotographer, Jeremy Evans, and one of the architects of multiple California lighting ordinances, Dashiell Leeds.

In the news, Maine's new responsible lighting law faced immediate pushback from a Colorado opinion columnist who claimed it bans Christmas lights. Nope, it doesn’t. And then he claimed that the law requires essentially lighting to be turned off after 10pm. Nope, again. Non-essential public lighting is to be dimmed or extinguished after 10 p.m., with security exemptions. And...did you know that you can see a spectacular night sky from nearly anywhere, sorry bud, but you got that one wrong too! To top it off, the columnist also cited a $370 million annual U.S. telescope sales. I’m curious to what you think about this one. Some low level research websites estimated global telescope markets closer to $285 million (that’s global, not US).

This is the line of attack folks who wish to muddy the message on responsible lighting policies are beginning to take. In December, a UK outlet ran an article that was nearly a complete misrepresentation of the new Palo Alto ordinance, and, along side of that, a local journalist claimed voluntary Dark Sky designated sites were fundraising activities designated to sustain Dark Sky International…no, they are simply that...voluntary programs.

Elsewhere, the Sphere venue announced its heralded expansion to National Harbor, Maryland. The original Las Vegas location posted a $230 million operating loss in 2025. However, most of that sat in depreciation. So when we remove depreciation, the venue actually posts a roughly $100 million good guy. The new Maryland venue will seat 6,000, roughly half of its Vegas counterpart. And, of course, it will bring its 24x7 nonstop LED exterior to the D.C. metro area.

In ecology, did you know that even creatures without eyes are shaped by light and darkness? Caribbean reef-building corals coordinate their circadian rhythms without eyes. Over 4,000 genes ramp up activity at dawn for protein production and cellular repair.

New research compared LED office lighting against broader-spectrum incandescent. Twenty-two participants who received 60-watt incandescent desk lamps improved their color contrast sensitivity by roughly 25% after two weeks. Improvements persisted for at least six weeks after removal.

A global study across 174 countries found that each one-unit increase in light intensity correlated with 2.29 additional anxiety cases per 100,000 people. Effects were strongest in women and most pronounced in younger individuals, particularly aged 5 to 19. And a UK Biobank study looked at 346,163 people over 14 years of data and found higher outdoor light exposure was associated with a 31% greater risk of ulcerative colitis compared to the lowest outdoor light exposure group.

Over in satellites, Starlink conducted approximately 300,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in one year due to near-misses with Chinese satellites. SpaceX, also, received FCC approval to deploy 7,500 additional satellites, bringing their constellation toward 15,000 low Earth orbit satellites. And China is considering two new constellations totaling 200,000 satellites.

We had some archaeoastronomy this month. Stanford researchers discovered one of the earliest known star maps hidden beneath overwritten text in a medieval parchment from the 9th or 10th century. The hidden chart included the constellation Aquarius with its original classical phrasing. As parchment is reused over the centuries, this star chart dated back to the 3^rd century.

Sky Cave Dark Retreats in southern Oregon rents out fully light and sound isolated rooms, should you wish to experience the joys of solitary confinement in Guantanamo Bay. This is what’s called ‘total darkness tourism.’ Strange, right? The fact that people need to pay to experience genuine darkness says something about what we’re missing.

And before I wrap this up, I want to recognize past guest Dani Robertson on her Environment Champion Award nomination from Wales. Now, none of you reading this live in the UK, or probably even have direct connections to Wales. But, Dani is a Dark Sky Ranger in Eryri National Park. Dani actually lives in the park...perhaps living the dream, wouldn’t you say? That's the kind of recognition you love to see. (Dani also has a couple of books but one was most notable – All Through the Night).

Why not take a listen to the March episodes below:

Look at Me Lighting! https://lightpollutionnews.com/podcast/look-at-me-lighting/

Create Your Own Meaning: https://lightpollutionnews.com/podcast/create-your-own-meaning/