I have always lived near a large city. There is a stark contrast between the picture linked below for example, and what I see with the naked eye.Sometimes I can see a few stars here and there, but usually they can be counted on my fingers. I'm looking up at the night sky right now, and there isn't a single visible star! Question: What creates this large gap in what I can see?Here's the photograph I was talking about: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120123.html
From the Internet: But direct observation has become nearly impossible in big cities as their light bounces off the dust in the atmosphere and creates a diffuse pinkish glow that can drown out all but a dozen or so of the brightest stars.
