Hey there it's Vanessa. I hope you've been enjoying listening to these stories as much as I've enjoyed making them.

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Thank you. You're listening to Nachter, I'm Vanessa Lowe.

You're listening to Nachter.

I'm Vanessa Lowe.

Why I look up at the stars? That seems like a strange question,

but it's one that I've started asking myself.

I grew up in New York City, and while I did go to summer camp at the country, I don't remember

paying much attention to the night sky.

I mean, occasionally I would look up and see a sky full of brightly

twinkling stars and I'd think it was pretty but I just didn't think much about it.

Nowadays living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I feel a little silly sometimes when I get excited seeing the faint smattering of stars overhead, because I know that I'm star impaired.

There's so much that I can't see because of all the artificial light turning the sky to mud.

I'm also embarrassed that it took me so long to realize what I was missing.

Much of that realization came when I read

Paul Bogart's book about light pollution, the end of night, and then interviewed him for an

earlier episode of Nocturn. I learned that a truly dark sky has turned into a rare thing. This

started me on a minor quest. I wanted to see a sky full of stars

...