For Global Astronomy Month 2020 (182): Inertia of Inertia (28)

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (text and photos) and Florin Alexandru Stancu (design)

Published: Sunday, August 09 2020 22:23

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A DOCUMENT AGAINST LIGHT POLLUTION
Astro-photo-poem (cosmopoem) by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

On June 27, 2020,
I decided to spend the night
(for the first time after a few years)
at high urban altitude.

At the foot of the “mountain” I remarked that,
because of light pollution,
the Moon seemed embarrassed near the block,
the star Vega shone shyly near a tree
and the star Arcturus was prouder…
only because of my photo-zoom.

But up there
things were even worse,
the banks of the Dambovita River
(which splits the city into two parts)
were much too strongly illuminated
(that’s why I took two documents images),
just like the entire northern half of Bucharest.

I could catch only
the high star Vega (again)
hiding after the balcony wall,
the (high and very faint) stars
Alkaid, Mizar and Alioth
pulling an invisible starry chariot,
and the planet Venus (also very small)
too close to the Sun,
hardly learning
to re-become the Morning Star
and preparing to fly over the Dambovita River.

They all seemed to cry out
for intelligent illumination,
but nobody listened to them.

Conclusion:

Down, light pollution.
Above, effects of light pollution.
Where is the starry sky?
Fatal distribution!