Our buildings and roads emit light, though, and this can affect our view of truly dark skies, and cause problems for wildlife. We want to make sure that we can all enjoy starlit nights, and we need your help in measuring what effect light is having on our views of the galaxy.
The best way to see how many stars we can all see in the sky is … to count them! Every year, around February, we ask people from all across the country to become ‘citizen scientists’ and look heavenwards for one night.
Over the years, many thousands of you have submitted your count, which our experts then analyse and compare with previous years. We then publish our findings on the website, and email those who took part.