The night sky without light pollution

Out of 9,000 stars across the sky, in most cities, fewer than 100 are visible. Roughly 80% of the world’s population lives under light-polluted skies including Cape Town, where the night sky scores as level 8-9 on the Bortle Scale, meaning most constellations are completely invisible.

During coronavirus lockdown, starry skies are emerging with night time star gazing being more popular than ever! Because of this, a stunning new interactive photo series by Under Lucky Stars has been created, showing the before and after of 27 cities across the world, with and without light pollution.

Using real images of city skylines captured by photographers, pollution has been completely removed in reimagined images to restore the beauty of nature and show the night sky in cities across the world that haven’t been visible to the naked eye in years. From New York and London to Moscow, Tokyo and Beijing, see the captivating difference in over 25 cities.

Cape Town