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On clear nights, the 500,000 residents of Tucson are treated to a celestial light show. With the naked eye, one can easily see the Milky Way and a host of other constellations, planets and shooting stars that might otherwise be drowned out by the modern electric world.
Tucson’s secret doesn’t lie in the desert air but in the dark sky ordinances they’ve passed, starting in 1972, to limit nighttime lighting in order to protect the nearby astronomical observatories.
The International Dark-Sky Association, based in Tucson, works to build on this success and protect other night skies from light pollution.
– Carlisle Willard, The 100 CompaniesÂ