Turn all the lights off! Australians have been mesmerised by the cosmic wonders of the night sky since, well, ever – and it’s no wonder why. Those shimmering stars, spectacular supermoons and massive meteor showers are simply out of this world. But what’s the most incredible spectacle to witness after dark?
Last week, the ABC asked Aussies, ‘What’s the most amazing thing you’ve seen in the night sky?’ After two rounds of voting, which narrowed down a top 22 to a final ten, the Milky Way was crowned the galaxy’s top ‘star’ attraction, securing 22.9 per cent of the vote.
Our ‘home galaxy’, the Milky Way, is a cosmic wonderland filled with more than ten billion stars, all swirling slowly in a spiral that spans 100,000 light years. To put that in perspective, you’d need approximately 7.6 trillion Earths to stretch across the Milky Way’s diameter. That’s right, trillion!
In Australia, we’re lucky to have countless places where we can marvel at the Milky Way, which appears as a cloud stretching across the starry night sky. However, increasing light pollution is making it harder and harder to experience this awe-inspiring sight.
Although Australia has the lowest proportion of land area affected by light pollution among G20 countries, we rank among the highest in volume of light pollution per person. This means Aussies living in suburbs and inner city areas must now travel to a remote or dark sky location to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way.
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Funnily enough, Australians voted ‘stargazing in a dark sky location’ as the second most amazing thing to see in the night sky, with 19.9 per cent of the votes. Australia is currently home to six internationally designated Dark Sky locations, including the River Murray and Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in SA, and the latest addition, Palm Beach Headland in NSW – which is also the country’s first Urban Night Sky Place.
Third place in the poll went to the bright, beautiful and bedazzling Aurora, which scored 19.2 per cent of votes. The top ten also included Saturn’s rings, the moon, comets, the moonbow, a meteor shower, shooting stars and the lunar eclipse. You can check out the full results of the ABC poll here.
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