Week of June 2-8, 2024

I began my stargazing adventures many decades ago, in a small city between Philadelphia and New York. Sure, we had city lights back then — I'm not that old — but the sky seemed remarkable. At least I thought it was until I spent my first night in a truly dark location.

It was in March 1986. I was co-leading a group to see Halley's Comet from the Pinacate Mountains of Mexico. The comet wasn't to rise until the pre-dawn hours, so some of us lay down on our sleeping bags and caught some shuteye.

I recall waking up early and, looking down onto the desert sand, seeing my shadow. "Oh no!" I thought. "How could I have forgotten about the moon in the morning sky?"

When I turned around and looked skyward, however, there was no moon. It had been starlight that was casting my shadow onto the ground!

To say it was a stunning sight is an understatement. Anyone seeing such a sight would have surely said there were millions or billions of stars in the sky that morning. But, believe it or not, there were only a few thousand at most.

I suspect many of you who have seen such a sight would argue to the death that I don't know what I'm talking about. So how can one ever be sure just how many stars are visible in a dark, nighttime sky? By counting them, of course.

Now before you call the authorities to have me committed, let me tell you I've done it, and it's not as difficult as you might think. Try it the next time you find yourself under a clear, dark sky. The only tools you'll need are a cardboard tube from a roll of bathroom tissue or kitchen towels, a pen, a notepad, perhaps a calculator. And, of course, a nice clear sky.

Hold the tube up to your eye and aim it skyward. Count the stars you see within that field of view. Record the number on the notepad. Now do the same for seven other spots randomly scattered around the entire sky. When you're finished, add all eight numbers together, and multiply that sum by 10.

That's it. That's a (very) rough estimate of the number of stars you can see with your eye from that location on that night. You'll be shocked to discover there are only between 2,000 and 3,000. Yes, it may seem like millions or billions, but this is one of Mother Nature's great deceptions. Just think about how little of the sky is actually taken up by those points of light we call stars; most of the sky is filled with dark space.

Interestingly, if we could squeeze all the stars we see together to form one single "star" in the sky, we'd find it would produce a light not much brighter than the planet Venus reflects to our eyes.

If you'd like to see the devastating effect that light pollution has on our view of the universe, try this experiment by looking into your own neighborhood sky. I think you'll be equally shocked!

Roughly estimating the number of stars in the sky is easier than it seems.

Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at creators.com.

Photo courtesy of Dennis Mammana