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Our Vanishing Sky

A sleep deprived man covers his head with his pillow as blinding light streams into his window. His clock reads 2am. On the wall is the title of the comic: Our Vanishing Sky. By Maki Naro and Matthew R Francis.
A split panel of a brown skinned woman and her son looking up at the night sky. In one panel they can see the whole milky way, a swath of stars and dusty darker sections across the sky. In the other, the sky is orange with the light pollution of the buildings and street lamps around them. Text: Traditional stories from all over the world feature the Milky Way, but for many today our home galaxy might as well be mythical. Street lights and other on-all-night lights have made the sky in many places too bright to see stars. Studies show that the Milky Way is invisible to skywatchers across much of Europe, Asia, and North America.
A myriad of satellites, space probes, and other bits of machinery fall from the Earth into a pile at the bottom of the panel. Text: But it’s not just Earth’s surface. The sky is littered with satellites and space junk. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 4084 satellites orbited Earth as of May 1, 2021, along with over ten times as many pieces of debris.
The writer Matthew seen ca 2005 as a cartoon telescopic eye peers at him from a satellite flying overhead. Text: These satellites contribute to light pollution, particularly for astronomers who see streaks of light as they pass overhead. When I briefly worked on a telescope project, we discussed how to cope with seeing every satellite—including the secret spy satellites—that flew over.
Countless rockets, some not even trying to hide their phallic shapes, blast off from a cloud of smoke. Text: Elon Musk's SpaceX and other private companies have been launching constellations of thousands of small satellites designed to provide internet service to "underserved" areas.
A lone observatory looks out a the night sky as a constellation of satellites shapes like a hand giving a middle finger rises from the horizon. Text: Unlike light pollution from cities, satellite constellations are visible all over the planet. People with currently dark skies in the Global South will soon lose their pristine views of stars or the Milky Way, regardless of their wishes.
An stereotypical "gray" alien in a flying saucer passes over an Earth that sparkles and shines so bright that he has to wear sunglasses. Text: Companies based in wealthy countries disproportionately produce light pollution and space junk, just as they pollute the air and water around the world.
The milky way in the night sky slowly fades to white as the viewer's eyes move down the panel. Text: As long as we have been human at all, looking at the stars has been part of our natural heritage. Robbing people of that heritage through space pollution harms our shared humanity.

Description

  • The Nib

  • 2022

Published in the Nature issue of the Eisner-Award-Winning Nib Magazine, this comic shines a light on how our view of the night sky is rapidly changing, jeopardizing both Earth-based astronomy and our cultural connection to the stars.

Additional Credits