Slashdot is currently carrying an article about light pollution, which is nothing new. But on a whim I did some digging on wikipedia and came up with this map of light pollution to see where the nearest dark sky is to me (it's in the ocean).

What really amazed me, however, is that light pollution in the US kind of drops off right in the midwest. It's light the people who make streetlights started in New York and got bored to tears halfway through the nothingness that makes up much of Kansas and Oklahoma.

I guess the starkness of that line just catches me by surprise. You'd think there was some huge chain of mountains or maybe a giant "trench of light" that you'd fall into - but no, there's really no physical difference between eastern Kansas and Western Kansas. They're both just wheat!

Any ideas?

Light Pollution Ends Abruptly